Paris Fashion Week:
Chanel Spring/Summer 2013
by: Faith M. Jackson
Karl Lagerfeld’s continued legacy of Chanel’s vision is energized in.
Chanel was the greatly anticipated Paris Fashion Week show that did not disappoint and will appeal to the masses. Karl Lagerfeld continued Chanel’s legacy through his 1960’s inspired Spring/Summer collection. The Chanel runway appeared to be made from solar panels and 13 near real-size, revolving turbines in Paris’s Grand Palais in which Lagerfeld called “beautiful modern architecture.” It was symbolic of harnessing the future of fashion to the power of technology. The fabrics brightly printed, woven tweeds, or were black mesh layered, mixing sheath dresses and boxy cropped jackets. The boxy coats with form fitting trousers were prominent new ideas in this Spring/Summer Collection.
80 different looks “energized” their way down the runway. “We need energy,” said Lagerfeld after the show. “Energy is the most important thing in life!” He continued, “It’s all about volume and lightness . . . because usually volume and lightness don’t go together.” A bolero-high jacket shape teamed with a volumous, just-above the knee skirt shape was this collection’s most consistent silhouette. The other “energizing looks ran the gamut from baby-doll frocks in linen chambray, denim, or gingham tweed, to sophisticated long evening dresses in monastic black and white. Energy!
There was energy in some of the playful accessories also. There was a model in a double-C fronted swimming costume shouldering an extreme Chanel bag made of two hula-hoops and a semi-circle of that famous quilted leather and clumpy platform sandals with stripy soles. What’s Chanel without the signature pearls? Giant pearls that were wrapped as chokers—or a single pearl set to float in a metal cuff or to anchor a messy chignon at the nape of the neck,very reminiscent of the 60’s.
Lagerfeld’s harnessed power of Chanel’s fashion in many different directions, but overall brought a fun and cohesive collection that makes a fashion voltage statement to power the masses.