It is only fitting that two of Paris's biggest hitters saved their shows until the very last day of Paris Fashion Week. Chanel and Louis Vuitton revealed their spring/summer 2023 collections on the same day and they were worth the wait.
At Chanel, creative director Virginie Viard looked to the 1960s film L’Année Dernière à Marienbad, that Chanel the house helped to restore to its full glory a few years ago.
Something of a classic, what the film lacks in dialogue it makes up for in breathtaking cinematography and clothes, many of which were created by Gabrielle Coco Chanel herself.
Using this as her starting point, Viard spun a collection that was sublimely Chanel — light and effortless. Easy, pyjama-cut trousers, fluid strapless trapeze dresses and simple tank tops worn with long, floor-grazing skirts arrived, in a palette of pale pistachio, light gold, cream and black.
Long, simple dresses swept past, totally unfussy save for dots of sparkle around the neckline, as lace was cut into an equally uncomplicated sheath. The simplicity of cut left all the focus on the details, such as tweed and black cloth shot through with sparkle, like the night sky.
Jewellery was restrained, worn as the occasional handful of necklaces, as the collection had almost no patterning, except for the looks scattered with film stills. These same images lined the entrance to the show space.
It was remarkable, restrained and totally Chanel. Coco would have been proud.
Louis Vuitton hits Louvre Paris
At Louis Vuitton, meanwhile, the show was held in a courtyard of Paris's Louvre Museum, in a set created by artist Philippe Parreno. Made of large red sails, that fanned out from a central point, it felt like a bizarre type of fairground, with mirrors that reflected the audience at itself.
Seemingly inspired by the sheer scale of Parreno's abstract flower “petals”, or vice versa, creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere played with sizing, sending out looks adorned with details exploded in scale.
The show opened with a look that had padded tubes around the neck and pads sitting on the hips. Next came short dresses printed with huge buckles and belts, while vast zip pulls, now the size of fans, hung from necks.
Models carried bag purses, now the size of an art school portfolio with scaled-up hardware to match, and buttons were the size of coasters, with real belts sat around the ribs like obis. It was remarkable, tough and almost aggressive, with leather, boxy external pockets and plenty of shiny hardware.
There were babydoll tops and dresses in leather, the latter with giant ribbons half threaded through the hem, as elsewhere dress hems were left half unzipped, and loose.
As the show ended, and the crowd started to leave, Janet Jackson hurried backstage, and make-up artist Pat McGrath and actress Lea Seydoux, a Vuitton ambassador, bearhugged one another. As a sign of the sheer visual impact of the show, we in the audience all felt like doing the same.
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