Chanel's Dolls House. Haute Couture Spring 2016

Yesterday Karl Lagefeld brought his latest couture collection to the Grand Palais but this time, with an imaginative Zen garden touch. The natural eco themed couture show saw the likes of Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid and sister, Bella Hahid step into the characters of real life dolls and enter the ecological garden, via the silhouette of a modern wooden house to demonstrate a contemporary theme of a surrealist dolls house for Lagerfelds engaging couture scene.

As always Lagerfeld incorporated the brands signature tweed fabric and traditional Victorian silhouettes into certain garments for the collection, continuously representing the style Chanel has been known for since CoCo Chanel started the brand in 1909. However, he also brought his own flare to the collection with minimal odd splashes of colour and powerful embellishment but maintained a dominant nude colour palette of beiges and creams in awe of the 'Queen of Beige' herself, (a nickname Lagerfeld gave to Coco Chanel during the show). He also used these earthy hues to exemplify his communication of Japanese modernisn.

Looking at the silhouettes and style of the collection in more detail, another theme that was represented in the garments was the blend Cubism and 1930's style to channel the artistic movement in the 20th century. Lagerfeld has translated his inspiration from the work of Picasso and George Brasque on to the runway through his use of wedged heels and rolled up bunned hairstyles. The narrative of the garments can mainly be seen to resemble Picasso's 1932.

'Head of a Woman' sculpture.



Head of a Woman. 1932. Pablo Picasso's sculptured on display at MOMA in New York City.

My favourite piece out of the collection happened to be this alternative floor length gown which was covered in an abstract pattern of colourful hues and in my opinion, a dress that arguably reflected the block colours that Picasso was known to use in his paintings.



Furthermore, although Lagerfeld's natural theme was beautifully pieced from the outside, it also included deeper messages about sustainability within the fashion world. Therefore, the brand used fused papers, cotton and wooden costume jewellery to create an eco-friendly alternative collection for fashion. However, that's not to say that the creation of this eco-architectural masterpiece did not cost a fortune just like the rest of Chanel's extravagant shows. Also, although the whole collection does not take this concept on board, Lagerfeld still takes the lead in a gradually move towards a sustainable natural fashion industry. One more thing I will say, is that since this was couture fashion, the production methods of couture are an epitome of slow fashion, therefore the procedures do differ to 'fast fashion' methods and less garments are created in comparison to ready to wear









[Image credits: Giovanni Giannoni]

Chanel's SS Couture 2016 Dolls House at the end of the runway show.