Haute Couture Week: Chanel goes back to its roots with intimate French summer garden

French luxury brand Chanel tends to rise above the competition at the Paris Couture Fashion Week with the creativity of their titanic productions inside the Grand Palais. Chanel has previously transformed the interior of the Grand Palais into a giant model of the Eiffel Tower, an international airport terminal, a Chanel-branded supermarket, and a life-sized waterfall. This time, guests such as American director Sofia Coppola, British singer Rita Ora and French actress Marion Cotillard were welcomed to the setting of an intimate French summer garden, including a wooden lattice-like pavilion circling a fountain centrepiece.

The discreet catwalk gave way to remarkable garments of Chanel savoir faire. This Chanel Haute Couture collection was finely engineered by Karl Lagerfeld and the skilled “petites mains” of the house’s legendary workrooms of Rue Cambon.

Six weeks ago in Hamburg, Lagerfeld designed a monochromatic collection for Chanel’s Metiers d’Art collection. As ever, this Chanel Haute Couture show began with a series of tweed bouclé suits, a signature of the house but with a new colourful palette such as fresh pink, lilac, cream and light green.

The complexity of the weaving of the fabric is already a masterpiece. Chanel’s iconic jacket was reinterpreted with clean lines, a fitted waist, rounded shoulders, and just a little bit oversized that gave a nonchalant silhouette.

The most striking accessories took the form of ankle boots with low transparent heels which brought the silhouette in line with the modern way of wearing Chanel. A few of the models even kept their hands in the pockets of the gorgeous jackets while they graced the runway.