The three pillars of Chanel – haute couture, high jewellery and their No.5 fragrance – are celebrated along with Coco’s life and Karl Lagerfeld’s spirit in the new show Mademoiselle Privé at the Saatchi Gallery, opening today. Following on from the great success ofThe Little Black Jacket exhibition in 2012, which saw 160,000 people coming through the gallery doors, Chanel have put on another spectacular show that shares the same breath-taking set design that’s in evidence in every one of their catwalk shows. There’s a bubbling, steaming, brightly-coloured Chanel No.5 laboratory, a room full of exaggeratedly large totems (the codes, colours and symbols of the house), plus a gigantic sling shot (ready to launch a ginormous pearl) and an oversize bucket spilling over with the distinctive Chanel handbag chains.
If you’re a Chanel obsessive, a general fashion fan or into theatrical design, you’ll delight in the details and the way the French luxury house’s world has been conjured up in a joyous Borrowers or Charlie & the Chocolate Factory manner. Snap a selfie on a recreation of the famous Chanel mirrored staircase, marvel at the haute couture gowns once worn by the likes of Vanessa Paradis, Lily-Rose Depp and Julianne Moore (all in attendance at the exhibition’s launch last night), learn about Coco’s first store in Deauville and enjoy the air, thick full of the smell of neat box hedges and Chanel No.5.
The exhibition is part of a wider trend towards fashion houses hosting exhibitions to further tell their story (Louis Vuitton’s Series 3 on The Strand is currently showing too), which shows the public’s enthusiasm for their history, drama and aesthetics.
Mademoiselle Privé, Saatchi Gallery 13th October to 1st November. Free admission.