A Line of Beauty. Chanel SS’1999 Couture

April 28, 2023April 28, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

On Monday, May 1st, the 2023 Met Gala will take place. This year’s Costume Institute exhibition, “A Line of Beauty,” will celebrate the oeuvre and life of Karl Lagerfeld. The exhibition will see Andrew Bolton and Wendy Yu, curators in charge, examine the work of Karl Lagerfeld (1933–2019). Throughout his lifetime, Lagerfeld worked at prominent fashion houses such as Balmain, Chloé, Fendi, Chanel, in addition to founding his namesake brand. More than 150 pieces will be on display in the exhibition, many of which will be accompanied by Lagerfeld’s sketches. In the last couple of days, I looked back at my all-time favorite Chanel collections, designed by the one & only Karl. Here is the last one, a special one: it has a very special place in my heart. Hope some of these magnificent vintage looks will end up on the red carpet on the first Monday in May…

Lightness is the quality that made Karl Lagerfeld’s late 1990s and early 2000s haute couture collections sing. He gave the concept a literal spin for spring-summer 1999 by abolishing black from this collection entirely. There was a quietness to this line-up that the neutral and pastel palette contributed to. Floating tulle and organza captured the collection’s dreamy mood in a truly delightful way. Maisons de couture have workrooms dedicated to flou (draping) and tailoring. Lagerfeld didn’t ignore the latter, but there wasn’t an ounce of stiffness in the soft, almost sporty, haberdashery he sent out that season. Bold accessories offered a contrast to the suppleness of the collection. Small, sculpted gold bags and earrings that were abstract falls of silver hoops inserted a sort of tech-y vibe into the goings-on and seemed to signal that as the fin de siècle loomed, Lagerfeld was looking forward, not back. The relative scarcity of Cocoisms meant there was more room for a bit of playfulness, like the triple scoop of sherbet-colored taffeta looks that appeared near the end of the show, worn by Devon Aoki (raspberry), Colette Pechekhonova (blueberry), and Esther Cañadas (lemon). They proved so utterly irresistible that Uma Thurman wore Cañadas’s dress to the Oscars that year.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Barbarian Romance. Chanel Pre-Fall 2013

April 23, 2023April 25, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

On Monday, May 1st, the 2023 Met Gala will take place. This year’s Costume Institute exhibition, “A Line of Beauty,” will celebrate the oeuvre and life of Karl Lagerfeld. The exhibition will see Andrew Bolton and Wendy Yu, curators in charge, examine the work of Karl Lagerfeld (1933–2019). Throughout his lifetime, Lagerfeld worked at prominent fashion houses such as Balmain, Chloé, Fendi, Chanel, in addition to founding his namesake brand. More than 150 pieces will be on display in the exhibition, many of which will be accompanied by Lagerfeld’s sketches. In the following days, I will look back at my all-time favorite Chanel collections, designed by the one & only Karl. Hope some of these magnificent looks will end up on the red carpet on the first Monday in May…

“Dressed to kilt.” How else was Karl Lagerfeld going to define the collection he showed for Chanel outside of Edinburgh for pre-fall 2013? The thick tweeds, the argyle knits, the charming cardigans, the man-styled essence of Chanel all came from Scotland and the time that Coco spent there with her lover the Duke of Westminster. But the fashion show’s venue was Linlithgow Palace, where Mary, Queen of Scots, was born almost seven centuries ago, and her tragic life gave Lagerfeld the perfect opportunity to gloss Chanel’s easy pragmatism with an element of doomed romance. It was a fantastic combination. Maybe that’s because it was kind of personal for the designer. The first French poem he ever learned, at the age of six, was all about Mary. Then there’s that umbilical connection between Scotland and France, which history recognizes as the Grand Alliance. And in Lagerfeld’s team, he had Sam McKnight on hair and Stella Tennant (I miss her so much) on all-round fabulosity. In other words, there was something quintessentially Scottish in the air. “Barbarian romance,” Lagerfeld called it. Linlithgow’s courtyard was lined with flaming braziers, spitting sparks into the snow flurries. Guests made their way up spiral stone stairs to the palace’s great hall and chapel, open to the heavens since marauding Hanoverians torched the building in January 1746. After the show, they made their way back down a labyrinthine wooden construction to dinner in a tented fantasia that had hardened souls gasping with wonder. With impressive ease, Lagerfeld translated the sense of occasion into something that grandly allied Chanel’s original Parisian proportions with Scottish tradition. Picture Stella Tennant in a drop-waisted kilt-pleated coat. But also imagine that kilt in chiffon and lace. And the tartans and tweeds, the Fair Isles and argyles that would have garbed lords and ladies of the glen reconfigured in languid knits and patchwork, layered in swingy jackets, accessorized as delightfully with jewels, feathered hats, flowing scarves, and patterned tights as one could wish from a collection that was created to celebrate the “métiers d’art” of the Chanel ateliers. True, there were a few costume-y moments, in which it looked like the models had slithered straight off a canvas in the National Gallery of Scotland. A final passage of white wool gowns touched with lace and feathers, meanwhile, was an almost operatic exercise in pure technique.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Saint-Tropez. Chanel Resort 2011

April 21, 2023April 21, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

On Monday, May 1st, the 2023 Met Gala will take place. This year’s Costume Institute exhibition, “A Line of Beauty,” will celebrate the oeuvre and life of Karl Lagerfeld. The exhibition will see Andrew Bolton and Wendy Yu, curators in charge, examine the work of Karl Lagerfeld (1933–2019). Throughout his lifetime, Lagerfeld worked at prominent fashion houses such as Balmain, Chloé, Fendi, Chanel, in addition to founding his namesake brand. More than 150 pieces will be on display in the exhibition, many of which will be accompanied by Lagerfeld’s sketches. In the following days, I will look back at my all-time favorite Chanel collections, designed by the one & only Karl. Hope some of these magnificent looks will end up on the red carpet on the first Monday in May…

The resort 2011 scene was like something out of a quintessential Riviera movie. With the sun setting over the sea, hundreds of Chanel’s invited guests sitting in the red wooden chairs of Saint-Tropez’s famous Sénéquier, and many more onlookers piling onto balconies and pressing against barricades, Natasha Poly, Anja Rubik, Abbey Lee, and the rest of Karl Lagerfeld’s cast arrived at Quai Jean Jaurès via speedboat. And like the carefree starlets and jet-setters they were channeling, the models traipsed down the street-cum-runway often barefoot, wearing 70s-inspired diaphanous caftans, long crocheted dresses, ruffle-lapelled silk jersey trouser suits, and patchwork denim skirts. Tanned and toned midriffs peeked out beneath a cropped sweater here or a button-down there, its hems tied in a saucy bow. Freja Beha Erichsen’s white silk Mick Jagger tuxedo delivered some sun-drenched rock & roll to the French idyllic. The Rolling Stones front man, of course, married Bianca in just such an outfit in Saint-Tropez’s town hall back in 1971. Magdalena Frąckowiak, doing the brilliant Brigitte Bardot cosplay, danced her way toward the photo pit in a black and white checked maillot. And for the finale, there was Georgia May Jagger, with her dad’s tune “Let’s Spend the Night Together” for an accompaniment. The model got to take a spin in a beaded minidress and thigh-high boots on the back of a tricked-out Harley with Sebastien Jondeau. To be sure, there was a nostalgic mood to the affair. What prompted these witty nods to the past from a designer who famously had no patience for such fusty concepts as the “good old days“? The location surely had something to do with it. Though Lagerfeld pointed out that “Chanel was spotted here once in ’34 by Colette,” Saint-Tropez feels much more like his kind of town. “I spent many years of my life here,” he said. “I know Saint-Tropez like I know Paris. The collection is very casual, very down-to-earth.” Key, of course, is that lightness of touch, the sense of enjoyment and ease.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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The MET was Heaven.

May 9, 2018May 12, 2018 | Design & Culture by Ed

Maria Carla Boscono by Juergen Teller.

I very rarely write about such mainstream events as the MET Gala, but this year was awkwardly… good. A heaven’s gift, even. Noting this year’s Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination theme, the guests had to give a thought to their appearance. Actually, it could have gone all wrong. But, surprisingly, some of the looks will become somewhat iconic! And that’s something to cherish. It’s truly pleasing to know that there are actors, musicians and celebrities that want to break the norms and dare to stand out on the red carpet – especially at MET, where boredom should leave right away.

I know I might look really late with this fellow ranking of the best looks, comparing to all the others in the industry (well, my final exams are in progress, so please do excuse me!). But still, posting this feels like a right thing to do.

How I love Frances McDormand in this Valentino haute couture ensemble. She looks so non-chalant, yet chilled out. And she smoked a cigarette, while wearing that magnificent headwear. Thanks God for Pierpaolo Piccioli, who really nailed it with that collection, and thanks God for Frances, a woman to adore and admire.

Well, Rihanna in John Galliano‘s major Maison Margiela pope fashion. No explanation needed I guess.

Anthony Vaccarello‘s Saint Laurent gang of dark angels that featured Zoë Kravitz, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Anja Rubik, Kate Moss, Mica Arganaraz and Charlotte Casiraghi. Hell yes.

Solange in Iris Van Herpen is somewhere between an alien dominatrix and a Goddess. Can be two at a time, why not.

Possibly, Greta Gerwig wanted to look elegantly invisible. Well, that dramatic The Row dress was the MET Gala’s most serene fashion moment, but in the best possible way. A nun goes to the ball! Love.