Adopting this unlit and seductive mystique, Karl Lagerfeld became the director of his own motion picture; "Les Allures de Chanel", travelling through the label's eclectic chronicles as they continue to unfold.
Under the Parisian moonlight, trapped within the glass ceiling of the Place Vendome, Lagerfeld played out a dramatic, star-lit story-arc written with decadent couture. Akin to last season's apocalyptic tale, this collection was laced with the same impending doom, coloured by intense blacks and smoky charcoal. Even the more colourful pieces were either deep and inky, or sprinkled with sequins which did not reflect the light, but rather, absorbed it. The spirit of the show was moody and infected by a dark and ominous sense of danger, characterised by funeral-esque velvets, vintage plumage and lurid lace veils.
The premise of Lagerfeld's drama chased the story of Chanel's greatest starlet and her most powerful weapon. Narrating the evolution of Coco and her classic suit throughout the archive, Lagerfeld saw his icon embodied by her own statue, overthrowing Napoleon upon his column. Stepping away from dresses and returning to the fail-safe tweeds, this season revealed a looser silhouette, whose voluminous hourglass shape was enhanced by peplum flares and a nipped in waist. Like authorative Victorian matriarchs, the models bore minimal flesh and interpreted a dominant stance. But although the manner was more conservative, i could sense secrets in the ruffles and felt the compelling draw of harsh sexual energy.
With the majestic location as his backdrop, Karl unravelled himself as a master of dystopia, transforming the Place Vendome into a romantic urban setting, with a granite floor that twinkled like a rain soaked pavement on a sombre Parisian evening. Seeking quaint antithesis from the prim vintage suit styling, the designer drew futuristic parallel's to Fritz Lang's Metropolis by framing the windows with neon lights and creating a cylindrical glowing sci-fi tube that towered over his universe. As the spectacle drew to a close, Lagerfeld exhibited light-up shoes; as a little taste of quirky innovation that sees modernity echo the past with ease.
Marrying his directorial eye with visionary design technique, Karl Lagerfeld took his own poignant little world from imagination to realisation. The nuerotic melancholia was told not only through his setting and story but was true in the intricacies and specialist skills which define his aptitude as a couturier. It was a captivating show from start to finish and did not need light to illuminate its brilliance.
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