Just when you think Karl Lagerfeld is going to zig, he zags. The legendary creative director has spent half a decade showing his Chanel collections in ever-more-grandiose stage settings in the Grand Palais, ranging from an arctic tundra complete with trucked-in iceberg chunk to a Chanel-themed supermarket filled with branded items that weren’t even part of the collection. For Chanel Fall 2016, though, Lagerfeld took the brand to the opposite extreme.
Chanel’s simple, pared-down, front-row-only runway show where people simply sat atop couture era-inspired gold chairs and watched more than 90 looks pass in front of them. Like the show itself, the clothes and bags didn’t have any over-arching pop cultural theme to guide their aesthetic details; instead, they appeared to be influenced by the creation of clothing in and of itself, with big leather stitches adorning some bags’ gussets and plenty of work-intensive tweeds. The collection’s novelty minaudiere, which has become an every-show signature for the brand, also pointed in that direction: it took the form of an oversized spool of thread, complete with a Chanel logo charm hanging from its loose end.
Lagerfeld’s intent seemed to be to draw attention back to the clothes and accessories themselves and the immaculate craftsmanship that goes into them, and as he usually does, he succeeded. Check out over two dozen bags from the show below.
[Photos via Vogue Runway]
