Ok, y’all: I have some thoughts, and they are not quite fully formed, so I’ll just come out with it. The Chanel Cruise 2021 collection was just released the other day, and along with it, plans to continue with their rigorous 6-show-a-year schedule.
The collection itself is lovely – light, summery, effervescent – and it actually may be my favorite of theirs in a very long time. It is, like most of their clothes, nice. Wearable. Just … nice.
Media outlets patched together quite the fanfare, lubricating the fashion pages with news of Chanel’s digitally-presented video lookbook. Called “Balade en Méditerranée,” or “Mediterranean Stroll,” the pre-COVID plan had been to present the collection in Capri as a nod to Coco Chanel’s iconic Mediterranean vacations (can’t we all relate?). Given the obvious constraints on travel and in-person events, the brand instead put together a Capri-themed video lookbook. Or “digital presentation,” as many outlets are calling it. It’s really just a fashion montage.
Cancelling the original Cruise showing and re-routing into a fancy fashion music video digital presentation is, given the times, not particularly noteworthy (if you want noteworthy, see last week’s post on Hanifa’s digital presentation using 3D models). I’ll post it here. Again, it’s lovely.
Let’s Do All the Shows
What I found noteworthy is that Chanel’s president of fashion activities, Bruno Pavlovsky, announced that the brand plans on plowing ahead with two prêt-à-porter shows, two haute couture shows, a cruise collection, and the December Métiers d’Art collection. That’s six shows a year.
Given all that we’ve gone through this year, all the conversations around sustainability, consumption, overproduction, carbon footprints, designer burnout, etc (more on that here), we all seemed to agree that Big Changes needed to happen.
Sustainability, we thought, would reign supreme. Mindfulness had cast its shadow on the scene. “No more!” we said, “no more designers shoveling half-baked designs onto the conveyor belt of the six-show-a-year schedule! We simply shan’t put up with the emissions! The waste! The creative burnout!” we said, pinkies raised adroitly. I imagine myself righteously piqued, my lips over-lined and pursed, my grandmother’s tennis bracelet glinting as a swirl my quarantini.
When the world seemed to be saying “less is more,” along comes Chanel to say, “no madame, more really is more.” Oh, well – mea culpa. I’ll put my little (or middle) finger down and allow you to plow ahead.
Now here’s my question: does Pavlovsky’s announcement seem tone-deaf to you? It hit a discordant chord with me, and I’m not entirely sure why.
Maybe (?) It’s Not As Cringy As It Looks
My snark may very well be displaced. First of all, Pavlovsky stated in his announcement that the six shows per year pace works well for Chanel, while for other brands that number may differ.
He emphasized the artistic importance of the runway, that storytelling element that carries the essence of the garments into the consumer’s imagination. It’s performative art, really; a dynamic expression that links craft and textile and routine and dreams and identity. As a brand, particularly under Karl Lagerfeld, the creativity and scale of Chanel’s presentations exploded into true creative and engineering feats – and that’s nothing to sneeze at.
For Heaven’s sake, the man built a beach. Indoors. With waves.
Pavlovsky emphasized as well that Chanel has made specific, measurable commitments to monitoring and reducing carbon emissions – you can read more about that here. It’s far more than most other brands have signed on for.
Virginie Viard, creative director, used deadstock and sustainable textiles to create this collection – and I’m happy to see that the brand is catching on to green methods previously advocated for by houses like Viktor and Rolf, among others. The utilitarian thread (thread, get it?) was carried through to the Fall sales plans, which involve scooping up unsold merchandise – in the retail doldrums of the pandemic – and reshelving them along the new collection when released.
Maybe (?) It’s Complicated
Tone-deaf? Certainly – but as much as I want to breathe fire down the silken shirt-collar of The Man, I have to say that Chanel’s situation is more complicated than a small group of elites making out-of-touch decisions that may be emulated around the globe and exacerbate the climate crisis. It’s nuanced. There are decisions made that offset the extravagance of six shows a year.
Right?
love,
Stig
Cover photo via Vogue; Information and background via Business of Fashion (this article was especially helpful), WWD, and Vogue
