La Chanelphile » chanel haute couture

Chanel Links: Week of 04.02.12

La Chanelphile — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 22:42:38 +0000

Coco Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld are listed on TIME Magazine’s list of All-TIME 100 Fashion Icons.

Chanel Illustration by Sem

Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel will be inducted into the 2012 FiFi Hall of Fame on May 21. The FiFi Awards are sponsored by the Fragrance Foundation and Jill Belasco, chair of The Fragrance Foundation stated:

Chanel fragrances have reached near mythical status thanks to the vision of Coco Chanel, her enduring commitment to in-house master perfumery and an uncompromising commitment to luxury and quality. To this day, men and women everywhere delight in wearing fragrances marked by the entwined double C’s of Chanel.

Happi

Charlotte Casiraghi wore Chanel spring-summer 2012 haute couture to the 2012 Monaco Rose Ball in Monte Carlo – I’m not crazy about her modifications I think it looked better on the runway… Red Carpet Fashion Awards

Chanel opened a fragrance bar dubbed Espace Parfum at Bloomingdale’s on 59th Street in NYC – the Espace Parfum will specialize in creating a new experience for discovering Chanel fragrances including Les Exclusifs and other limited distribution scents. WWD

Drew Barrymore is engaged to art consultant Will Kopelman, the son of Arie Kopelman, a former head of Chanel USA, so naturally, the bride will be wearing Chanel. Brides

Listen to the DFA Mix by Tim Sweeney (2008) for Chanel Mobile Art Launch – NYC

A new luxury building is being built on Newbury Street in Boston and the first two floors will house a Chanel boutiuque. Boston.com

Karl Lagerfeld’s latest project is to redesign the outside areas of the Métropole Monte-Carlo including a fresco-style depiction of Ulysses’ journey etched on fifteen panels of glass (two pictured above). WWD.

Kristen Stewart wore a Chanel manicure to the 2012 Kids’ Choice Awards.

Similar Posts:

Chanel Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2012 Presentation Video

La Chanelphile — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:49:59 +0000

Earlier today I reviewed the Chanel Joaillerie collection which pays homage to Coco Chanel’s 1932 Bijoux de Diamants collection that was inspired by celestial bodies. Later on, I reviewed the spring-summer 2012 haute couture collection that simulated a commercial space shuttle but it wasn’t until I saw the actual presentation video below that I saw the connection.

This is purely my own hypothesis, but I’m betting that Karl Lagerfeld is paying homage to Coco Chanel’s 1932 Bijoux de Diamants collection through haute couture fashion. It’s just a hunch but must me more than coincidence, no?

The video below also gives us some much needed close-ups of the hair pieces and the nail polish which looks like a shimmery powder/sky blue.

Similar Posts:

Air Chanel. Chanel Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2012

La Chanelphile — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:26:53 +0000

“No Fifties, no Sixties, no Seventies. Just what I like.”
-Karl Lagerfeld, WWD

Chanel presented its Haute Couture spring-summer 2012 collection at the Grand Palais in Paris on Tuesday and the airplane window hint Chanel dropped on Monday was confirmed. The Grand Palais was transformed into the interior of a “commercial space shuttle flight that, during the course of the show, left the Earth’s atmosphere and headed for space. Toward the finale, the Earth actually passed overhead, across the clear dome that allowed passengers a view of the starry sky outside.” (Style.com)

Having brought in an iceberg to the Grand Palais, surely bringing in and replicating the interior of an airplane must have been a piece of cake. The set or “aircraft” featured a 164-foot aisle, double-C monogrammed carpet, modern seating – all complete with a bar cart (I wonder if they had double-C ice cubes?).

Image from Chanel

Air travel not only inspired the set – but the color palette of the collection – a palatte Karl Lagerfeld called a “monochrome rainbow” though he was quick to point out that “I don’t have the blues.” (WWD). Every shade of blue was represented – from nearly translucent and almost white to the darkest of midnight blues.

The true innovation of the show however came in the form of the new silhouette Karl showed: exaggerated boat neck collars, large bell sleeves, long skirts and hyper-dropped waists. Known for playing with androgyny and borrowing from the boys (a legacy started by Mademoiselle herself), Karl said the very low waists (at about thigh level) were meant to look “like boys whose jeans are slipping off.” (Style.com). The show came to a traditional close with the showing of a wedding dress though there was nothing traditional about the dress at all. I love how Karl can adopt a new silhouette each season that looks completely new and unexpected, yet so classic and chic that it looks like it came from the Chanel lexicon.

I wish I could have seen the pieces up close because the amount of detail and workmanship cannot be appreciated from photos taken from so far away. But even with the photos, you can tell that the garments are dazzling. The embroidery and beading alone are gorgeous. I also would have loved to see a close up of the shoes and the hair pieces. Speaking of hair, it seems Alice Dellal is more than just the face of the upcoming Chanel Boy Bag campaign – she was also the muse for the hairstyles worn on the runway.

I’m hoping to receive more detail images of the beauty – curious to know about new beauty products and of course – nail polish! Stay tuned.

Thank you for flying with Chanel.

All images except as indicated from Style.comSimilar Posts:

Chanel Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2012 Sneak Peek

La Chanelphile — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:56:29 +0000

Chanel posted the image above in reference to its upcoming Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2012 collection showing on Tuesday, January 24. It may be a part of the invitation – I’m not sure as there is no other information aside from the image itself. It seems Uncle Karl may be going for an aviation-inspired theme – can’t wait to see!
Similar Posts:

Emma Stone in Chanel Haute Couture at The Help Los Angeles Premiere

La Chanelphile — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 03:56:00 +0000

Emma Stone looked stunning in Chanel Haute Couture, from the Spring-Summer 2011 collection, for the Los Angeles premier of The Help. The dress is relatively unchanged from the runway version though it looks a tad longer. Emma Stone matched her dress with a Chanel purse and Chanel Fine jewelry and nude pumps which elongated her leg. Her soft makeup and ginger locks were a beautiful complement to the dress. I’m not sure if it’s just a lighting issue, but the color of the dress looks different on the red carpet. On the runway, the chiffon looked grey, while on the red carpet it looks greenish-grey. Not sure if it’s the same color or not but both look lovely.

Images: Right – Just Jared; Left – StyleSimilar Posts:

Then & Now: Chanel Fall-Winter 2011/2012 Haute Couture Design Inspiration

La Chanelphile — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:40:43 +0000

Karl Lagerfeld has adopted Goethe’s famous motto: “Build a better future by expanding on elements of the past.” At CHANEL he has changed nothing and everything, interpreting CHANEL in his own way with elegance and wit. He would have certainly met Mademoiselle’s approval, since her ideas also often created mini-revolutions before becoming the industry standard.

–Chanel Corporate

The above statement is on the Chanel website and it is eloquent and precise in describing Karl Lagerfeld’s deft hand in picking up where Coco Chanel left off. You can see elements of Coco Chanel in all the collections but nowhere has this been more apparent than in the Chanel’s Fall-Winter 2011/2012 Haute Couture collection, appropriately called Les Allures de Chanel.

In the sketch above, Karl lends his hand to a dress that Coco Chanel designed in 1931. The first thing I noticed was the peplum – many pieces in the Chanel’s Fall-Winter 2011/2012 Haute Couture collection highlighted this same very design feature.

Below you can see the 1920s influence of the flapper dress with low waist, straight silhouette and neckline with deep V detail.

In the next image you can see a Chanel print that may have inspired the fabrication of the dress on the left. The black fabric with pops of color seem reminiscent of the Chanel print.

Finally, there’s the boater hat – the hat that started it all. The boater hat is the first hat that Coco Chanel started designing. She would buy them in bulk from the store and then customize them. Her simple straw hats were a fresh counterpoint to the heavily feathered hats of the day that made Coco wonder how women could think underneath all of that excess. Karl Lagerfeld knows the significance of the boater hat so I’m guessing that is why every model in the show was wearing one. An homage to Coco would be nothing without a boater.

Unfortunately there are not a lot of images of original Chanel designs but I will continue to look for comparisons to see how Karl has taken the legacy of Coco Chanel and given it a current spin in future collections.

Image 1: Karl Lagerfeld sketch of a Coco Chanel dress designed in 1931, scan from Coco Chanel: The Legend and The Life by Justine Picardie, p. 193.

Image 2: Left: Chanel evening dress, 1923-24, scan from Chanel: The Couturiere at Work, by Amy de la Haye & Shelley Tobin, p. 37. Right: Style.com.

Image 3: Christian Bérard illustration featured in American Vogue, July 1937, scan from Coco Chanel: The Legend and The Life by Justine Picardie, p. 231. Right: Style.com.

Image 4: Chanel wearing one of the first boater hats she designed to the horse races in 1910, Chanel and Her World: Friends, Fashion and Fame, p. 60. Right: Style.comSimilar Posts:

Coco Vendôme – Coco Chanel and Place Vendôme

La Chanelphile — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:12:29 +0000

As I mentioned in a previous post, the recreation of Place Vendôme for the Fall-Winter 2011/2012 Haute Couture show was significant because The Ritz, the place where Coco Chanel laid her head down to sleep is located in Place Vendôme. It was a place that she was not only familiar with, but she lived there (she spent her days and entertained at 31 Rue Cambon but slept at The Ritz). The show invitation gave us a preview of the set of the show which was a recreation of Place Vendôme complete with tower – except the statue of Napoleon was replaced with a robotic Coco Chanel (Metropolis inspiration post to come soon!).

Chanel News posted some more details about the historical significance of Place Vendôme that I’m re-posting here:

“Chanel and Place Vendôme are very linked. She lived in the Ritz, now there is a Jewelry shop, it’s very Paris, there are many photos of her on the place Vendôme. The big site of the Ritz is also still the Ritz, a part of the place Vendôme.” Karl Lagerfeld

From the 1920s onwards, Mademoiselle Chanel refused to “settle down” and stayed at the Ritz Hotel occasionally before she decided in 1937 to move in and rent a suite on the third floor.

Place Vendôme was one of her sources of inspiration. The octagonal cap of her first perfume, Chanel N°5 recalls its geometry and proportions. Later on, the Première watch equally reminds of this aesthetic.

Today, directly facing her suite at the Ritz is the Chanel Fine Jewelry boutique which opened at number 18 in 1997.

Photo: 1937 – Gabrielle Chanel at the balcony of her suite at the Ritz Hotel, Paris © Photo Roger Schall / Collection Schall

Similar Posts:

Clemence Poesy in Chanel Haute Couture at Harry Potter Paris Premiere

La Chanelphile — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:53:27 +0000

Chanel favorite Clemence Poesy wore Chanel haute couture from the spring-summer 2011 collection to the Paris premiere of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2. I was not a fan of the pants-under-skirts theme of the collection so I’m happy that she did away with the pants and opted for the skirt with bare legs. I don’t love the silver shoes but I think it’s because I’m so obsessed with the flats from the couture show that I won’t like anything as compared to them.Similar Posts:

Chanel Captured Moments

La Chanelphile — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:22:21 +0000

An inside view behind the scenes of the Chanel Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2011/2012 collection…
Similar Posts:

More Chanel Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2011/2012 Beauty Images

La Chanelphile — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:59:32 +0000

Last week I posted images of the beauty at the Chanel Fall-Winter 2011/2012 show and I found more images from behind the scenes – I especially seeing Peter Philips at work. I love dark smokey eyes and the eye makeup in the couture show was smoldering! You can achieve the look by using these products.

Image SourceSimilar Posts: