Paris Couture Week – Couture’s most defining event. This year, French Maison Chanel takes centre-stage; showcasing a classy blend of styles. And there’s only one word to describe the overall presentation – stunning.
The collection draws inspiration from the work of two Chanel superstars – Karl Lagerfield and Mademoiselle Gabrielle Chanel herself. Chanel’s Haute Couture Fall 2022 runway is definitely one for the books.
Powerful Aesthetics
Chanel’s artistic director, Virginie Viard, gives us a collection that embodies the elegance of Mademoiselle Chanel’s designs, the powerful silhouettes of Lagerfield’s designs, and her own chic style. For Viard, it is a collection that reflects the pragmatic needs and desires of the house’s clients and her own sources of inspiration, as per VOGUE.
“Not for Viard the sweeping statements of her mentor Karl Lagerfeld, who might impose a powerful new silhouette on practically every look in a collection, but instead a sense of gentle evolution and a myriad of references and inspiration.”
According to Viard, “in this new collection, there are suits, long dresses like Mademoiselle Chanel imagined them in the 1930s: fitted to the body even though they have strong shoulders here, and pleated dresses like the wedding dress for instance,” adding that “the palette consists of bright green, khaki, beige, pink, lots of black and silver.”
However, there are still elements that make the collection Chanel – the tweed, the suiting, the demure glamour. But that’s where the classic Chanel style ends, the rest is completely reimagined, and it’s totally giving.
That eclecticism of Viard projects through the pieces in the collection. Featuring amazing textiles, lace painted in resin, embroidered leaves on a white tulle trapeze dress, deco print on a bell-skirted coat dress, tufts of ostrich plumes painstakingly onto black chiffon and streamlined trench coats of textured black tweed.
Paying Homage
The pieces from Haute Couture Fall Runway, 2022 aren’t only inspired by the house’s past designers. They also pay homage to the equestrian aesthetic. Wide-brim hats and chunky cowboy boots on the runway reflect feminine equestrian attire. The first look features a bold kelly green jacket and skirt, ultimately setting the scene to embrace a somewhat casual tone; long metallic coats, office-ready co-ord sets, and capri-style pants.
But the collections isnt the only thing in this runway that’s giving – the set design is also a notable feature. For the second season, Chanel has worked alongside the French installation artist, Xavier Veilhan, to construct “a dreamy playground on the site of the Étrier de Paris equestrian center, complete with giant spinning pinwheels and baby pink marshmallow-y poufs,” as per VOGUE.
“Guests walked through or around these structures before moving indoors to more sand and a set of kinetic color blocks in black, white, sand yellow, and gray.”
And as for the music – a symphonic soundtrack by the French artist, Sébastien Tellier, accompanies the show. Also playing throughout, is a video which features a cast of Charlotte Casiraghi and Pharrell Williams. See all the looks from Chanel’s Fall/Winter 2022-2023 Haute Couture collection, here.
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