Creative director Karl Lagerfeld built a marina inside the Grand Palais to show his latest for the French Maison.
“I like the idea of boats, of ocean liners during the interwar period and the rest, but in real life, I like houses on solid ground with my stuff all around me. I get claustrophobic [on boats] because you feel like you’re cut off from the world,” Lagerfeld demurred to Women’s Wear Daily.
Still, he tackled the nautical theme with his usual verve, blending relaxed sportswear silhouettes with elements of Sixties pop such as miniskirts, white tights, and silver or white Mary Janes, including a version with faintly clinical rubber soles. “On boats, there is less dirt and dust than elsewhere,” reasoned Lagerfeld according to a 2018 Women’s Wear Daily Report.
According to a Refinery29 2018 report, the collection itself carried just as much oomph as the vessel you’re seeing not sailing the Atlantic but all over Instagram. Chanel staples were in full swing: pearl necklaces, tweed suiting in all of its changing silhouettes, statement accessories with a twist, and, of course, the Hadid sisters. But there were some new elements and faces to see, too, like the micro-midriff, the brand’s more demure version of baring navel, French navy hats replete with signature red pom-poms, distressed denim, and, oh, Adut Akech, the latest South Sudan newcomer who opened the show and its finale.
A young Chanel client, fully habituated to the scene, in a 2018 Vogue report he/she declared it “everything I’d like to wear when I get on a boat—the short dresses, the sailor pants, the prints. Easy.”
According to a 2018 Vogue report, After the show on the dock, Lagerfeld came out to wave to the audience with his longtime studio designer Virginie Viard. Then the gangplanks went down, the audience were bidden on board, and the set turned into a party ship, with oysters on deck and Captain Karl holding court in an imaginary white ballroom.