Los Angeles may have Disneyworld, Universal Studios and even the Hollywood sign — but far as star attractions go, last night potentially set a new record for brandland world-building: a spectacular Chanel cruise show, held at Paramount Pictures. Guests entered through a carnival full of amusements: Coco-fied food trucks, towering light displays, and eventually, a full-sized double-C’ed basketball court complete with a ‘Paris v Los Angeles’ kiss cam showing the celebrities sat courtside: Snoop Dogg, Kristen Stewart, Nile Rogers, Whitney Peake, Tracee Ellis Ross, G-Dragon, Riley Keough, Margot Robbie, Paris Hilton, to name a few. A black-and-white silent film by Inez & Vinoodh of models tossing their hair in slow-mo against palm-lined sunsets was projected across a ginormous backdrop. Snoop Dogg even performed, and the whole thing turned into a roller disco afterwards. Just last week, a 30,000-square-foot Chanel boutique, the brand’s biggest in The States, opened on Rodeo Drive. And the week before that, the fashion house unanimously won the Met Gala with its iconic roster of guests in both archival and new-season Chanel couture, in honour of its longtime visionary creative director, Karl Lagerfeld.
But this was not a Karl moment — even though it certainly felt like a throwback to one of his blockbuster shows at the Grand Palais in Paris during the 00s. This was an all-out spectacle for the even more bombastic era that presently we find ourselves in. In fact, its scale far outstrips the last time Chanel staged a show in LA, which was the house’s second-ever cruise show, held in a Santa Monica airport hangar back in 2007. Virginie Viard, who took the reins of Chanel in 2019, knows that the stakes are high and her clients have an insatiable appetite for travelling shows. So, she decided to turn it up a notch with an epic display of Chanel’s longtime connection to Hollywood, from the 1930s films that Coco Chanel travelled here to design costumes for to the countless stars that Chanel has been fronted by over the years, crucial in cementing its very own star power.
Not that it was all glitter and gold — the collection itself was full of paradoxes, a delicious smoothie of kitsch, glamour, and an outsider-view of Americana. “Between a tribute to the glamour of great film stars and evoking the world of fun to be had with aerobics, sports and roller skating, between the dream on one hand and what you want to wear on the other, it’s all a question of balance,” a California-pilled Virginie explained. This is to say that there was an encyclopaedia of archetypical Angeleno references quite literally worn on the sleeves of this collection: Coco Chanel’s languid designs for cinema in the 1930s, the distinctive coconut palm silhouetted sunsets of LA as recurring ombrés; 60s baby-boomers in their bell bottoms and dippy flower-power florals; the kitsch maelstrom of surfers, rollerskaters and eccentrics along Venice Beach; bright fitness wear beloved by everyone from Jane Fonda to Cindy Crawford; and, of course, the notorious juxtaposition of uber-casualwear for gym-honed bodies and the razzmatazz of Hollywood stars at red carpet premieres.
“The idea is to offer a breath of fresh air, a voyage, a light-hearted and happy fantasy,” said Virginie. She can rest assured her mission was accomplished. Make no mistake: this was an all-out display of superbrand power, a playground for Chanel’s top clients and a spectacle that will flood the timelines of anyone with access to the Internet. Esoteric and niche, it was not. Easy to wear and bright in its optimism, it totally was. After years of working behind the scenes on the house’s Lagerfeldian spectacles, Virginie knows what people want from Chanel: the classics and a few clichés, but with just the right twist. After all, it’s not exactly a house that people go to for real-life clothes to wear to the office or so-called ‘quiet luxury’ (even if Coco was arguably the blueprint for that term). Instead, Chanel’s mascots want an abundance of frivolities: novelties such as VW camper van handbags, star-shaped raffia purses, Chanel skateboards that will never see a ramp, tweed swimsuits that will never see a pool, white Go-Go boots with light-up rainbow heels: collectable pieces that will surely result in queues around the block when they hit stores this winter.
Judging by this collection, she is also predicting that they will want it all in pink. There was a candy-shop assortment of sugary pink looks in each and every shade — bon-bon tweeds with zingy fuschia trimmings, apricot Bermuda shirts, pastel twin sets and Jane Fonda leg warmers, Beverly Hills Hotel pastels and Venice Beach neons. It all seemed to chime perfectly with the summer’s soon-to-be hit movie: Margot Robbie’s upcoming turn in the Barbie movie. In fact, the Aussie actress was there, watching it all float down the runway, surely wondering which pieces she’ll wear on her meme-worthy press tour. That’s the thing about Chanel, and indeed Barbie, both megabrands that have name recognition from LA to Paris to Dakar: it’s grown-up toys for big-girl budgets. And just like the star power of cinema, from those Old Hollywood flicks that Coco designed costumes for right up to Greta Gerwig’s upcoming hit, you can never underestimate a woman’s need for entertainment.