Chanel Takes Haute Couture to the Quai for Fall 2023
Chanel is a house of tradition: It's built on certain codes that it reiterates and reinterprets season after season; it takes great pride on its heritage, seizing every opportunity it can to honor it. But every so often, even a brand like this can switch things up.
Chanel is a house of tradition: It's built on certain codes that it reiterates and reinterprets season after season; it takes great pride on its heritage, seizing every opportunity it can to honor it. But every so often, even a brand like this can switch things up.
On Tuesday, Chanel eschewed its preferred fashion show venue, the Grand Palais (or, while that gets renovated, the Grand Palais Éphémère), for the literal Right Bank to host its Fall 2023 Haute Couture debut. With rows of seats on one side of the runway and the Seine on the other — and the Eiffel Tower creating a dramatic backdrop — Virginie Viard presented a collection "inspired by a Parisian allure." Specifically, she drew from the city's specific flavor of "delicate yet bold femininity," focusing on sharply tailored silhouettes that borrow from menswear, that are then offset by delicate, ephemeral accoutrements, like a sheer tulle underskirt or a fine floral embroidery that reveals itself as you look closer.