Chanel showcased its Cruise 2019 collection this week and like most Chanel shows, the magnitude was unbelievable. This is one brand that has managed to maintain its wow factor for almost a century and this show just continued to prove how easily Karl Lagerfel has been keeping Coco Chanel’s legacy alive since the 80s when he came onboard as Creative Director. Between the set and the collection itself, this show definitely was a blockbuster.
Here’s how Karl Lagerfeld and the Hadids (they were the highlight of the show) made this a show to remember.
1. Constructing a 330-foot ocean liner within the Grand Palais
Chanel could not secure a ship fit to host its floating show. So instead, creative director Karl Lagerfeld brought the boat to dry land, constructing a 330-foot-long ocean liner in the middle of the Grand Palais. It was transformed into a series of nautical-inspired structures, blinding white sea shapes such as corals, shells, sea horses, and stingrays. The sound of seagulls, fog horns and creaking ropes filled the air as dusk settled over the soaring glass-and-steel roof of the Grand Palais, where Chanel has hosted many of its larger than life shows.
2. The ship was named ‘La Pausa’ after Coco Chanel’s summer villa
The runway was constructed under the stars in an enormous ship named ‘La Pausa’ after Coco Chanel’s summer villa in the French Riviera. Did you know that Coco Chanel was essentially the first designer to make vacation clothes for wealthy clients, first in the resort of Deauville in 1919? She later built on that success to introduce resort collections at her house in the Rue Cambon in Paris in the late 1920s.
3. Party on the deck
After the show ended, gangplanks were lowered and guests filed into the hull for the after party. Another fun fact is that even the invites were designed after boarding passes.
4. Â The collection – Chanel loved the sea
Gigi and Bella Hadid, along with almost 70 other models, exhibited Lagerfield’s nautical themed vacation range, which was filled with a selection of multicolour boucle suits, terrycloth caps and pastel-coloured stripes. Perhaps most striking, however, was the fact that nearly every look was worn with a pair of white tights.
We see how every detail was taken into consideration and so the accessories were also inspired by the cruise kits!
Nautical stripes and sailor’s tops have been part of Chanel’s signature since 1917 when Coco, spotting it on sailors whilst on holiday on the French Riviera, made the stripes popular when she introduced them in her 1917 nautical collection.
5. Karl Lagerfeld designs 10 collections for Chanel a year
“My contract with Chanel is for four collections a year, and I do 10. I don’t mind. I want it to work, to be updated all the time, and for the brand to offer a choice that you can’t find elsewhere. That’s what I’m interested in,†he said at the show.
Lagerfeld revived the dormant cruise concept when he took over the brand in 1983, and recently added two other collections — Coco Neige and Coco Beach — to cater to demand for season-specific clothes.
