For the second consecutive season, the shows took place virtually: Chanel revealed the film of the Spring Summer Haute Couture 2021 show under the aisle of the Grand Palais on Tuesday afternoon, January 26, 2021. Remotely showing the know-how of haute couture is a real challenge for every brand. Customers are used to seeing, touching and appreciating closely. But the pandemic is getting us used to another way of seeing things, and that is through our imagination, which in fact adds a sense of romanticism and fairytale spirit to the visual experience. It is not what we need most, to increase our experience and bring it to a sort of third dimension as an escape from reality that at the moment seems to suffocate us. Towards the imaginary, the oneiric?
The dream began the day before the show. Chanel started to anticipate some images online the day before the show on their media channels. A series of teasers by photograph, filmmaker and graphic designer Anton Corbijn was broadcast.
A mix of 15 second video clip following the rhythm of Strange Love, the song by Depeche Mode, and photographs of silhouettes and precious silvery tweed or micro sequins and red lace with on the top a pink, black and white camellia and Chanel’s monogram painted.
To maintain the suspense, the day of the show, to maintain the suspense, CHANEL distributed a magnificent series of black and white style family portraits of models present at the show and of a few CHANEL ambassadors photographed by Dutch artist Anton Corbijn in the new Haute Couture Salons at 31 rue Cambon in Paris.
Colored flower arches, rose petals on the floor and lightbulbs. Like a dreamy carriage. Virginie Viard’s Spring-Summer 2021 Haute Couture Collection was inspired by a wedding party, a warm summer celebration between friends and family.
The brand closed the show with its signature wedding gown design, embroidered with rhinestone-and-pearl butterflies and a tulle veil. During the intimate Paris Fashion Week event, Virginie Viard — who took over as creative director of Chanel after Lagerfeld died in 2019 — introduced this year’s bride (Lola Nicon) on a majestic white horse.
“I knew we couldn’t organise a big show, that we would have to invent something else, so I came up with the idea of a small cortege that would come down the stairs of the Grand Palais and pass beneath arches of flowers. Like a family celebration, a wedding…”. “I love big family reunions, when the generations all come together. It’s so warm. There’s this spirit at Chanel today. Because Chanel is also like a family.”
