Chanel.

Tues. 09/30/2014.





Chanel.

Firstly, The Set (or as it is called Chez Chanel, The Decor!) If Karl Lagerfeld has the ability to Awe even the most Jaded and Cynical of the Cognoscenti of Fashion with his Spectacles... Tons of Ice from Norway, A Supermarket filled to the Brim with everything from Bottled Eau to A CHAINSAW, all emblazoned with the Instantly Recognizable Double C Logo, Or A Space Age Nightclub worthy of The Federation of Planets, Even a Goddamn Carousel filled with all the Iconography of this most Hallowed of Fashion Halls... Lagerfeld perhaps one-upped even himself with the Spring 2015 Decor.

Entitled, "Boulevard Chanel" Karl and his Crack team of set builders recreated an Entire, Imaginary Street complete with FULLY DESIGNED AND FUNCTIONING Building Facades... Digest that for a Moment... Real Balconies, Real Doors, REAL GLASS WINDOWS... All Minutely detailed down to the last speck of dirt! PHE-NOM-ENAL! He even had an Asphalt runway to mimic the street (Water Puddles Included!) The mind simply cannot handle it. It was Awesome on a level of Heretofore Unseen Magnitude! It was truly a moment where you had to ask yourself...What Next? Not because it failed to Impress but because it impressed so Astonishingly, you are left bemused at how He could Possibly top this! Even IF Lagerfeld DOES surmount this Spectacular vision, this one will still rest in ones mind for years and years to come (Like those Humongous Wind Turbines and Solar Panels he did for Spring 2013)

So, Now that that has been addressed, Onto the Clothes. Lagerfeld conjured forth a Magical, Inspiring, Upbeat, Wholly Lighthearted, Whimsical Cache of Outstanding clothes. It was in some ways, a Best for the man who never fails to top himself from one season to the next! Starting off with the House Signature, Tweed. Nary a Skirt was to be found in the opening passage of exits that featured nothing but Lavish tweeds cut into Mannish Pantsuits! It wasn't new for Karl, this isn't the first time he's done Tweed pantsuits, but here it did feel startlingly Cavalier and Fresh. Maybe it was because they were pulsing with such Gaiety and Joie De Vivre, The girls looked totally Fierce, but Approachable.

The next wave produced the Familiar tweed skirt suits, done up in all manner of Fanciness, from Hand-Painted Colour Splotches to Sequins, to a couple that comprised a Cropped Tweed Bolero and flippy, floral printed Crepe Top and skirt and looked to be Two-Piece and were actually Trompe L'oeil One-Piece dresses! Then, a larger Leitmotif emerged, a Painterly, Vibrant celebration of Pop Colour! Karl translated a Floral print he had done in Watercolours and enlarged them for the Explosive, Overblown prints that were featured on the most Sumptuous Reversible Tweed and Silk Crepe coats. This Motif was presented in Blouses and Skirts too, of Crepe, but saw their most Exalted form Coalesce in these Glorious, Generously proportioned lineup of coats. While again, this wasn't breaking any new ground for Lagerfeld, Just witness Spring 2014's Paint prints for Colourful Exuberance, However, it certainly was one of Karl's most Extroverted affairs with Print and Colour!

At this point, to go into Extravagant detail of the Bounteous Ideas and multiple sections of clothes would exceed anyone's limits of interest except that of Karl, himself. Lagerfeld's Scope is simply too Monumental and Grand to properly distill without a Prolixity of Herculean compass! There can be areas that one would wish to illuminate further though, Such as the section of Deceptively innocent and Jeune Fille Frilly White blouses, given a Boyishly Contrapunctal twist with Pinstriped Shorts. Point of fact, the blouses were less Fragile and Ingenue than they seemed! They were elaborately constructed and far more Wanton and Revealing than at first glances would implicate!

Lagerfeld also, with much cheek involved, stated that Spring 2015, after Fall 2014, was going "From the Supermarket, now, Out into the Street" hence the concrete runway and the Sprawling Apartment Facades, and also the clothes were more "Street"-Wise than that simple aside from Uncle K would lead you to believe, Actually, Far more Literal! If one recollects the Fall 2014 Couture, where Lagerfeld incorporated Concrete "Beads" into his clothes, He did a Fanciful replication of that in one of the best sections of the entire Spring collection, In this Passage, The clothes were embroidered with Patinated Leather "Sequins" that looked like Concrete tiled paving on a series of Jackets, Tops and dresses, on a Jacket and Dress particularly, they were done up with little Flowers popping up amongst the cracks as if to look like nature in the city when the Pavement begins to Crack and all manners of Flora begin to take root in there... It was of a Uniquely special Ilk, these pieces, As was the Navy Cotton Ottoman dress that was Paved with those Same Concrete "Beads" From the Couture.

Chanel always has the Power to Suspend Belief and Transport you to a World wholly of Lagerfeld's Imagining, the Wonder and Magic of his Caprices is that, That world is so Encompassing and Real, at least for the time you spend in it, that it approximates reality, but on it's own terms. It's always a Fantasy, But a Fantasy so Minutely Detailed down to the last Hair that you are like Alice Through the Looking Glass and in Uncle Karl's Wonderland. Here. today, The Kaiser didn't desire such an effect, in fact, it was such a Gargantuan effort to make believe one had not entered the Genie's Bottle and that this was a Isolated Biosphere of the real world, that was then propagated with what Lagerfeld Brilliantly coined "La Mode de Vie" Fashion for Real Life. Not a Fantasy. In that respect, the collection touched more than a Contemporary nerve, it felt nothing short of World Changing. That the Showman in Karl was on display at the end of it all was again taken from real life, his "FASHION" Demonstration with Placards and Bullhorns may have been as he said, close to his heart, a Feminist Uprising... But more than that, it was just to seal the deal of "Manufactured" Realism and at some point, that even Uncle Karl has to go out into the REAL Real world sometimes, and be the mirror that reflects a greater Idea than just Fashion. Feminism was that Idea and one worth Shining a Light on. Sometimes... Just Sometimes, Real can be even better than Fantasy!

C'est La Vie!





That's All.





Bye4Now!