Chanel has produced some of the most transformative, sensorial experiences ever when it comes to the fashion mega show. Of course, the demigod responsible these full-blown fashion spectacles is none other than Karl Lagerfeld. The prolific designer has rewired our expectations when it comes to consuming fashion on the catwalk, and his Chanel fashion shows are eccentric, cinematic wonderlands. In the age of smartphones, frenzied iPhones in the air at a fashion show are par for the course, but Lagerfeld has been producing insane visual experiences at fashion week long before the instaquake. For its most iconic show, Chanel delivered models to the fashion show in an airplane.
The Chanel Line has taken off and boy do I wish I were in flight. Karl presented a youthful Resort collection of colorful Chanel duds to the top of female Hollywood society and it looks like there is plenty to go around. A mix of satin, stripes, sequins, tweed and denim gave way to a sometimes utilitarian sometimes completely feminine collection. I love it when Karl uses color and his reds, blues and purples were fun and made nautical desirable all over again. Silhouettes were flowy and light and ready to take flight. There was either a lot of leg via mini skirts or a long strong female via wide-legged pants. All of this with layered chains and pearls, peep-toe boots and ultra-cool Chanel glovies will surely keep the jet set happy. He had decorated the venue like an exclusive airport lounge complete with three cocktail bars, personalized flight bags on each and every seat, and arrival and departure screens listing "Chanel Line" flights. It was on those screens that celebrity guests like Demi Moore, Lindsay Lohan, Diane Kruger, and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen first caught sight of not one, but two, Challenger 601 jets approaching the runway. "I love it!" exclaimed Angie Harmon, jumping up from her seat, as the models spilled out of the planes in their first looks.
"Airports and flying have become a nightmare," Lagerfeld had said backstage a few minutes earlier. "L.A. is about the dream of private jets and beautiful cars and glamour. Cruise collections are about the dream of freedom." To open the show, he sent Raquel Zimmermann out in a navy jumpsuit with stripes at the cuffs. A cross between a captain's uniform and a first-class passenger's travel outfit, it had a kind of jet-set practicality—a mix of sportif and utilitarian that carried through to other looks, including a ribbed knit tunic dress, a sequin baseball jacket worn with skinny jeans and a matching cap, and a cargo skirt topped by the familiar Chanel tweed jacket in army green. "I love that he used a lot of color," said Camilla Belle, "especially the salmon pink."
All-out glamour came in the form of black cutout dresses worn over pleated blush-colored silk shifts; narrow satin tunics belted over longer skirts in a style reminiscent of Poiret; piles of accessories (from colorful plastic headbands to quilted bags that glistened like ice to cap-toe clear plastic ankle boots); and a pair of his-and-her robes. "The sequin dressing gowns were genius," said L.A. transplant Victoria Beckham, in vintage Chanel. "Fashion has come to Hollywood. He's paved the way for many more designers, I hope." Maybe so, but the peripatetic Lagerfeld said he's already dreaming about Monte Carlo for his next resort show. He's done planes, trains, and buses, after all. Yachts may be next.
Check the full fashion show for Chanel | Cruise 2008.