Just when I was despairing that perhaps Chanel had left fantasy and romance behind, my fashion friend Karen sent me a link to this video for the Paris-Edimbourg 2012/13 Metiers d'Art Show, which took place two days ago. Lagerfeld has staged this extravagant event every year for the last ten years. This year the show took place at the 15th Century Linlithgow Palace, the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots.
But what does Chanel have to do with Scotland? From 1924 to 1931 Coco Chanel had a love affair with The Duke of Westminster and Coco took up hunting, fishing and wearing the Duke's Scottish wool and tweed clothing and then adapted them into her designs, along with the Fair Isle knits. For the last twenty-five years, Chanel has produced their knits at Barrie Knitwear of Hawick, saving the nearly ninety-year-old factory from closing.
The video is about fourteen minutes long, but it's worth watching the drama of bonfires blazing, snow falling and a moody, cold castle setting right out of Macbeth. It's another world and another time, but Lagerfeld richly layers the models with beautiful wool, lace, leather, Chanel chains, bags, shoes and jewelry making it all very new and very desirable.
Very, very desirable. I almost never respond to high fashion on the runway, but I loved EVERYTHING. Was it the generally exotic and murky ambiance? The music? The swirling snow? Or the clothes themselves? Did you notice how not quite all, but most, of the female models were wearing the same gray and black checked (herringbone?) tights? No matter what the rest of their outfit. Loved. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteLovely. I noticed the tights also and how they worked with everything. Wow!
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