Karl Lagerfeld’s last show
Métiers d’Art, 2018 – 2019 Paris – New York was the last show of legendary Karl Lagerfeld. He has invited Virginie Viard to the scene with him for his final appearance. She would take over the role of Creative Director of Chanel in a few months, shortly after his passing. As watching the show, one wonders if Mr. Lagerfeld was realizing that his life was coming to an end when he was creating this collection. Karl’s passion for his work was truly unstoppable – he was constantly raising the bar and been ahead of the fashion industry up until his death at the age of 86.
The Show
The show took place at the 10 B.C. Temple of Dendur, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The idea of the show was a mix up of the Ancient Egyptian chic and New York streetstyle.
The museum gallery that has been dedicated to the show has been covered in papyrus papers has isolated the areas and created a clean ambience and a sense of mystery.
As usual the main purpose of the Métiers d’Art show is to glorify the craftsmanship of legendary ateliers. The collection has incredible pieces of embroidery, feather work, button – making, costume jewelry, shoemaking. Tweeds woven from strips of tulles, sequins, and metallic ribbons; microscopic beads worked individually by hand, and so many other tiny details that make this collection so unique, take hundreds of hours of manual work. Chanel has been determined to do everything for revival of the traditional ateliers and make them part of the brand again and Métiers d’Art collections have truly succeeded in this mission.
Metiers dart shows can be considered as next level of haute couture, modern evolution of craftsmanship in the times of the rise of fast fashion.
Shapes
The shapes and lines of this collection were inspired by the architecture of the ancient Egyptian civilization. They were clean and simple but distinct and geometrical at the same time.
Colors
Gold was the main color of the collection. Along with large, heavy, and layered accessories it was also in high boots, hats, embedded in the tweed jackets and suits – sometimes all in one look. The models’ legs have been painted in gold, creating an illusion of tights.
Despite the abundance of gold, the collection looked very chic and elegant, due to layering, styling, game of lights and shades that is so unique to Chanel. Different shades, like shimmering gold, aged gold, disco gold, bronze gold all blended in perfect harmony.
The rest of the color palette of the collection was built to bring up the golden theme. Neutral colors, like beige, white and black emphasized the depth of the golden shades. Bright colors: coral orange, dark purple, turquoise, jade green created contrast and reminded of gemstones found in the pyramids.
The Fusion
The fusion of different cultures was perfectly performed in Metiers d’Art – weightless transparent ivory dresses, rich golden suits and gowns were followed by denim aviator jackets with patches sewn in golden threads; printed urban art leather dresses and rebellious red or orange leather pants. The collection paid tribute to New York fashion with the pieces featuring prints by famous graffiti artist Cyril Kongo It was a great combination of art deco, antiquity, and street art. The graffiti seemed like modern day hieroglyphs with the flow of the collection.
The skirts imitating the wrap-around kilted skirts, worn by men in Ancient Egypt and so familiar from the hieroglyphs were representing the Egyptian chic. Another interesting nod to the ancient Egyptian civilization was the suits layered over ankle-length sheath slim ivory dresses, like the outfits worn by Cleopatra and other ladies of that period.
The alligator and python effects in this collection were also huge: they are now created from stamped leather and scale-shaped discs of sparkle. This was after recent announcement of Chanel that the brand will no longer be working with crocodile and other reptiles’ skin and stingrays.
Traditional Little Black Dresses in this collection have been on a different level of chic.
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