Seven years after staging its Cruise 2014 show in Dubai, the French house of Chanel has announced it will be bringing its Cruise 2021-2022 spectacular to the UAE metropolis.
First shown in May this year in the vaulted space of the Carrieres de Lumieres, in France's Les Baux-de-Provence, the production will be reprised on November 2 in Dubai.
No further details have been given about the show or its location.
The Cruise collections are central to Chanel’s DNA, and stem from the late 1910s when the maison's founder, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, would create lightweight wardrobes for clients wishing to escape the European winter by travelling to warmer climes.
In 2000, Cruise was formally added to the Chanel show calendar, and since then has been presented all over the world, including Singapore, Venice and Havana.
In May 2014, the storied label came to Dubai to present its Cruise 2015 show, building a huge pavilion on one of the World Islands for the event. With the spectacular skyline of Dubai acting as a backdrop to the clothes, it was one of the defining moments that put the UAE on the world fashion map.
At the event, then-creative director Karl Lagerfeld explained why he had selected the city for the event. “You know, before Japan took over for pearls, this place was famous for them, so Chanel is very at home here,” he said.
Now Chanel is coming back with a punk-edged collection by creative director Virginie Viard. Fusing a rock-chick aesthetic with the surrealism of Jean Cocteau – a personal friend of Chanel herself – Viard's collection offers classic Chanel tweed jackets with fringed leather skirts and spiky jewellery.
Fringed leather skirts appear next to palazzo pants and kaftans, and many surfaces are strewn with line drawings by Cocteau and Picasso.
In choosing to restage its Cruise collection in the Emirates, Chanel is nodding to the significance of Mena region clients to the house.
While the pandemic has disrupted much of the fashion calendar and the travel habits of clients, going back on the road with its collections outlines that, in Chanel's eyes at least, the world is open once more.
While the attending crowd will probably all be wearing masks and social distancing, it is a move towards the new normal, one beautiful, two-toned shoe at a time.
