Image: Chanel News
At Chanel, no expense is ever spared and the Chanel Autumn/Winter 2010 Ready to Wear show was no exception. For starters, a 265-ton iceberg was imported from Sweden to the Grand Palais for the Chanel show. Sitting in a shallow pool of water and reaching 28 feet high, 35 ice sculptors took six days to carve the iceberg to form the perfect peaks and valleys. Needless to say, the room was kept chilly to keep the ice from melting and the tone was set for the show.
The show opened with what I would call polar bear costumes – full fur bodysuits. For PETA’s sake, all of the fur in the show was faux – and there was a lot of it! I have to say that I did not like these polar bear outfits at all. I think they look ridiculous and unless you are dressing up as a polar bear for Halloween, or are living on the Arctic Circle, I have no idea why or where you would wear these furry jumpsuits.
Thankfully, the collection did not just include fuzzy costumes. The highlight of the show – apparel wise – was the interpretation of tweed and knits to go along with the faux fur theme/cold weather theme. The tweeds had fur, lace, yarn and tulle – and some even had stone embellishments. The knits ranged from sweaters, dresses, and tights and looked cozy chic.
My favorite part of the collection was the accessories (no surprise there). Necklaces, cuffs, earrings and hair pieces dripped with metals, stones, yarn and faux ice. I especially loved the bracelet with metal and yarn fringe (pictured above). The boots looked like they had spats attached to them which I also loved. The fur boots – like the jumpsuits – I did not love, but I appreciated the cleverness of the “ice” heels. The highlight of the accessories were of course the handbags. From fur covered, to faux ice appliqued onto a bag with melting double CC’s the bags were exquisite. My favorite was a play on the famous Chanel quilted pattern that actually looked like ice cubes.
The hair was big, teased and a bit messy, perhaps evoking the static of hat head in the winter? I loved the eye makeup that was black and applied in a bit of a sporadic light, almost feather pattern. The rest of the face was kept pretty bare and nude, as well as the nails. As always, curious to see what the actual nail color will be – I’m sure it will cause a stir just like prior colors de jour.
View the rest of the collection below.
Runway Images: Style
Image Layout: Feesh
