High fashion and the film industry have long been entangled. The two businesses have established a strong mutually beneficial partnership through costume design, red carpet fashion, or celebrity-driven promotions. Therefore, Chanel’s presentation of its vivacious and whimsical Cruise show for 2023–2024 at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles on Tuesday night made perfect sense.
The show notes promised that ”fashion and cinema lead us into a waking dream, fed by an energetic invitation to step into the spotlight and never leave the dance floor.”
However, there is also a private link between Hollywood and the French fashion house. Virginie Viard began her career as a costume designer; Coco Chanel herself was famously persuaded by film producer Samuel Goldwyn to come to Hollywood in 1931 so as to ensure his films’ fashions wouldn’t look out of date by the time they were released. Karl Lagerfeld passed away in 2019, leaving Virginie Viard as Chanel’s creative director. She eventually racked up more than a half-dozen credits for costume design.
The runway presentation, Viard’s “ode to the City of Angels,” saw Chanel make her first trip back to Los Angeles in about 16 years. (In a Santa Monica airport hangar, Lagerfeld showed his 2008 Cruise collection in 2007. Models descended from two Challenger 601 aircraft onto a runway while the It girls of the day looked on. The It girls of the day, including Lindsay Lohan, Mischa Barton, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, among others, watched as models descended from two Challenger 601 planes onto a real runway.)
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Much has changed. Between the Los Angeles of the late 2000s and the LA of today. Even while the city has long served as the epicentre of American celebrity culture, its notable figures have evolved, or at the very least, their playing field has grown. As well as being well-known celebrities and socialites with global and online fan bases, today’s fashion influencers are the toast of social media and subcultures. Luxury brands like Chanel have figured out how to embrace that and update their image to celebrate the old and the new, borrowing from the past while looking to the future, while yet remaining true to their heritage.
However, the allure and aspiration so strongly connected with fame still exist, just as they do in fashion, despite how much our idea of a celebrity has changed. Chanel started to create this tension with the invitations to their event. Each guest’s name was placed headliner-style above those of A-List Chanel ambassadors including Margaret Qualley, Kristen Stewart, and Margot Robbie in this artwork by French artist André Saraiva that appeared to be a parody of festival lineup posters. The outcome? Very Coachella. Very LA, in other words. The runway itself was put up inside Paramount’s lot to resemble a football stadium, complete with bleacher seating, scoreboards, and stadium lights. Among the celebrities present were Chloe Sevigny, Elle Fanning, Halsey, Kris Jenner, H.E.R., Kimora Lee Simmons, Paris Hilton, and Sofia Richie.
A lengthy film featuring Chanel ambassador Alma Jodorowsky was played at the start of the performance on a huge screen. The actress, who is the granddaughter of the director Alejandro Jodorowsky, was portrayed in the ad working out like a ‘80s Workout Barbie while lifting weights on a beach scene worthy of the West Coast.
In reality, there were numerous parallels to Barbie in the presentation, including pink casual attire, sherbet-colored tweed ensembles, and lace dresses and tote bags with ombré hues reminiscent of Pacific sunsets. In particular, the use of gold was emphasized in the show notes as “evoking cinema’s halcyon age, its empress-like actresses, the bright lights of the projectors, and the eternal California sunshine.”
The light-up rainbow heels that were included in several of the outfits were another standout. A few of the pieces had a colourful, pastel graphic print ideal for a doll’s wardrobe. Although Lagerfeld had previously utilized light-up heels in shows for Chanel in 2008 and 2011, Viard’s interpretation was nostalgic and incredibly feminine.
Robbie will undoubtedly bring some of these clothes with her on her “Barbie” press trip.
“There’s that fun, playful side that Karl kind of started, from the original Chanel that is super elegant and chic,” said director and Chanel ambassador Sofia Coppola, who also attended the presentation, in a phone interview with CNN the day after the performance. I believe Virginie is carrying on that tradition in her own unique way.
There were black leather dresses, cut-out bodysuits, aerobics-worthy gear, and a few designs that paid homage to Old Hollywood glamour with a contemporary spin among the collection’s other hues. According to the performance notes, Viard said, “It’s all a question of balance between the dream on the one hand and what you want to wear on the other.”
The show’s soundtrack reflected these contrasts as well, alternating between upbeat dance songs by Felix da Housecat and gloomy film scores from 1992’s “Basic Instinct” and Tom Ford’s “Nocturnal Animals.”
Virginia has a history in costume design, so there are several personas when you see the girls pass, according to Coppola. “I love seeing how she creates these different characters.”
Following the runway, a surprise appearance by Snoop Dogg—complete with an appearance by Anderson Paak—made the dance floor promised in the show notes a reality. Sliced fruit with Tajin seasoning, a favourite LA street dish, was distributed while the audience sang along to “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” just in time for Snoop to ask the age-old question:”Who has that sticky, gross thing?”
The never-ending search for the newest trends and trend-setters is a fundamental component of fashion and Hollywood’s ongoing collaboration, therefore it’s frequently the age-old inquiries that prove to be the most insightful. It’s about curation, “more of an approachable attitude toward fashion, and fun,” as Coppola puts it.
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