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PARIS - Birds of paradise braved Chanel's rain-soaked runway today as German designer Karl Lagerfeld gave wings to his models to reinvent the style that has made the Paris haute couture house an icon of chic.
Torrential rain delayed the presentation of Chanel's latest fall/winter collection, set in a former royal park overlooking the Seine river, until a tarpaulin was fixed above the runway and hundreds of black Chanel umbrellas were given to the guests.
Hooded models with thick black sunglasses huddled along a gravel runway in the park outside Paris, sporting classic three-quarter-length coats and dresses with the new adornment of feathers and sequins on the arms and the side.
Avant-garde film maker David Lynch sat in the front row watching models in knee-length deep blue satin dresses fringed with black sequins running on each side from the hem to the armpit and from the shoulders to the hands.
For the evening, Lagerfeld dressed the Chanel woman in a long black sequin dress hemmed with white feathers.
"Haute couture has to be the ultimate in luxury or else a luxurious pret-a-porter would suffice. If it is not truly exceptional it has no reason to be," the pony-tailed Lagerfeld told the army of reporters surrounding him after the show.
"Haute couture is a distinct culture and this is the reason why there are so few couture houses around," he added, paying tribute to the "petites mains" who spend hours sewing beads and sequins on to haute couture dresses costing upwards of US$10,000.
Haute couture, famed for its stunningly beautiful but also staggeringly priced craftsmanship, has gone through sporadic crises since the 1980s but new rich clients from booming Asian and Eastern European economies and a fascination for the famous has fed new appetite for designer clothes and accessories.
LVMH, the world's biggest luxury group, home of the Dior fashion house and Louis Vuitton handbags, reported first-quarter sales of US$5.17 billion (NZ$6.60bn) in April, up 7 per cent year on year.
Chanel, one of only 10 permanent members of the prestigious French haute couture union, dates from the early 20th century when Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel revolutionized the industry by replacing the traditional corset with more comfortable suits.
The life of Coco before Chanel is set to become a film, with Da Vinci Code actress Audrey Tautou due to play the role of the French designer.
- REUTERS
