To carry on this bold theme of complex colours to fit with the 35-degree heat that smothered the guests of the show, Lagerfeld began the evening by hiring 170 colourful vintage cars from Cadillacs to Chevrolets to transport his guests to El Paseo Del Prados, in central Havana where the show was set to commence for the night.
As for the chosen architect of the night, Lagerfeld could not have picked a better venue to completely translate every single part of his Parisian meets Cuban narrative. This was because thel Paseo Del Prados, which was redesigned by the landscape architect Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier in 1928, is an abode to eight bronzed lions which were created by the French sculptor Jean Puiforcat and the Cuban sculptor Juan Comas which therefore, creates a marriage between France and Cuba aesthetics so harmoniously.
In terms of Lagerfeld's aesthetic for the collection, his first model, Stella Tennant opened the show wearing what seemed to be classic and true to the French brand as Tennant strutted down the catwalk wearing a pinstripe trousers, brogues and a black tailored blazer topped with a straw trilby in Coco Chanel's iconic monochrome colour palette. Furthermore, to symbolise Coco's brand value that she set all the way back in the 20's, Lagerfeld created a suit for the model which had visual connotations of androgyny and masculinity to portray Chanel's core vision of a woman who broke social barriers and who was starting to dress more minimalistic to reflect their modern day independent values. Although the outfit does remarkably look very French and Tennant herself has a sort of European look, the outfit offers a sense of holiday styling for the warm weather suggested by the half unbuttoned blouse and the off white colouring of some of the garments the model is wearing. This can be mostly seen through the trilby which has been designed in a way to reference a sort of foreign commodity within the look.
Stella Tennant opening the show at the El Paseo Del Prados in Havana, Cuba
However, not every look that walked down the catwalk was similar to what Lagerfeld opened his show with because if we remember correctly, the show was taking place in Cuba and Lagerfeld has never been one to shy away from taking inspiration from various aspects of the origin he is visiting. This has already been proved since previously we have seen Lagerfeld do the same thing in destinations such as Singapore, Seoul and Dubai which have all be home to one of the designers memorable Cruise shows. Therefore, to truly represent Cuba through his garments and the identities wearing them, Lagerfeld casted local Havanan girls to walk down his catwalk and show off their distinctive Caribbean beauty during the show which was watched by the likes of Gisele, Vanessa Paradis and even the action film star, Vin Diesel.
As for the attire of these models, the brand had styled them in Che Guevara-style berets which were adorned with in eye catching black sequins and retro-looking T-shirts which were covered in text saying "Coco Cuba" to again play on the combination of the two contrasting destinations. These graphic t-shirts were layered under tweed suits to obviously portray Chanel's trademark and trustworthy fabric and an array of vivid coloured cartoon print Cadillacs which had been designed onto the silhouette of a silk maxi dress. The use of Cadillac's within these certain garment's answers our questions concerning Lagerfeld's effortless yet genius chosen transport at the beginning of the night. Furthermore, if we didn't already think that this combination of styles was enough to leave Chanel's fashion followers amazed, Lagerfeld also communicated a military khaki style among his collection which was complimented with tweed backs, tobacco sweater dressing and black crochet dresses. Culturally and in awe of the fashion of Cuba, Chanel have specifically celebrated the craft of the Caribbean island by incorporating crochet into their collection which is a common fabric worn by the citizens of Havana.
Ending the night in true Chanel fashion, Lagerfeld hosted the after party at the Plaza de la Catedral which had been renovated into a retro Cuban Beach house which was adorned with glimmering lighting which were projected into the midnight sky to achieve the ultimate tropical vacation for the luxurious Chanel consumer.
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