© Provided by Are Media Pty LtdVirginie Viard's Chanel Cruise 2021/22 collection was minimal on colour, but weighty with symbolism and history. Oh, and logo lip rings, naturally.
Much like the Jean Cocteau film that heavily inspired it, Virginie Viard's Chanel Cruise 2021/22 collection was minimal on colour, but weighty with symbolism and history.
From her previous deft iterations and evolutions of classic Chanel silhouettes and tweed textures, it's clear their Viard has an immense amount of love for the history of the eminent French fashion house. With the Chanel Cruise 2021/22 collection, we're introduced to her fondness for the life of the woman herself, Gabrielle Chanel.
"It is Chanel, the woman, that I love more and more: her life gives us access to characters just as extraordinary as herself," explained the designer. The friendship examined here is a close one between Chanel and Cocteau, the collection a fabric embodiment of his film Le testament d'Orphée better known in English as Testament of Orpheus. Like the film, Chanel's Cruise collection is a study in contrasts.
© Provided by Are Media Pty Ltd Against the natural, earthy backdrop of the Carrières de Lumières, in Les Baux-de-Provence, Viard's stark black and and white designs stand out strongly. Chiaroscuro lighting effects aren't needed here, and the designer cites the "simplicity, the precision and the poetry," in Le testament d'Orphée as what inspired her.
"Cocteau's film made me want to create a very clean collection, with a very distinct two-tone, made up of bright white and deep black," Viard explained.
© Provided by Are Media Pty Ltd However, there are a few select colour frames spliced into Cocteau's film and Viard's sartorial interpretation of them are fun. Lilac feather-festooned skirts fluttered down the runway, while soft check fabrics in a desaturated watercolour palette broke up the monochrome.
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© Provided by Are Media Pty Ltd The clothes themselves oscillate between classic Chanel and some unexpected boho-Y2K moments.
One particularly "That's Hot!" look from Chanel Cruise 2021/22 that we can see the new generation embracing featured a stack of large, unsubtle necklaces, a longline white-trimmed tank emblazoned with Chanel-adjacent graphics, a diamante arm cuff and printed wide-leg jeans. Cruise for the Chanel skater girl? Or perhaps the Depop aesthetic also wormed it's way into Viard's set of influences.
© Provided by Are Media Pty Ltd For her part, she cites the "extreme modernity of Coctaeu's film" as the inspiration behind Chanel's glam-rock turn. "I wanted something quite rock. Lots of fringes, in leather, beads and sequins, t-shirts bearing the face of the model Lola Nicon like a rock star, worn with tweed suits trimmed with wide braids, and pointed silver Mary-Janes. A look that recalls as much the modernity of the sixties as that of punk..."
And so we come to it: the Chanel lip ring. While fashion houses have played with body-modifications and facial jewelry in the past, never has it so perfectly straddled logomania, flex culture and the enduring influence of rap's jewel-encrusted grills. Will it be available for retail? Uncertain-though we're sure Chanel fans and true punks will find a way.
While we're all aware that the best, truly authentic counterculture fashion will not be coming from Chanel, it is still very enjoyable to see the DIY mood translated into the heritage house's aesthetic.
See the full Chanel Cruise 2021/22 collection here and watch the film below.