The Most Breathtaking Chanel Fashion Week Show Sets

Chanel took to the streets of Manchester - Thomas St in the Northern Quarter, to be exact - for this year's Metiers d'art show. The models, including Karen Elson who was born in Greater Manchester's Oldham, walked down the wide street in Mod-inspired baker boy hats and mini skirts. While celebrities, music artists and editors sat front row drinking champagne from the Bay Horse Tavern.

The river Seine served as a scenic backdrop for Chanel’s AW23 Couture show, which saw models stroll along cobblestones painted pink on the riverbank. An ode to the elegance of Parisian lifestyle, Viard was a master of capturing just that as models were styled in traditional formal jackets and skirts, layered blouses and knee length skirts. Playing further into the chic culture, accessories included woven flower baskets, with one model walking a large groomed dog.

Chanel paid a flying visit to Monte Carlo for this season's Cruise collection. Models hit the beach, taking their monogrammed Chanel heels for a stroll across the sand whilst the FROW looked on from beneath striped parasols.

'Inspired by the cosmopolitan beach lifestyle of Monaco and Chanel’s history along the Côte d’Azur, a first glimpse at the collection reveals silhouettes with an abundance of black and white swimsuits, glamorous sequins, and ensembles in breezy crochet,' a brand statement revealed.

Closing the AW22 season and Paris Fashion Week in classic Chanel style, the brand erected a stunning set in the temporary 'Grand Palais Éphémère' on Place Joffre. The theme? Tweed – but like we've never seen it before.

In honour of Mademoiselle Chanel's favourite fabric, which she borrowed from menswear and made her own, Virginie Viard sent an array of tweed clothes and accessories down the runway and created a set to match, with the brand's signature fabric covering the walls, benches and Chanel's pastel-coloured lettering.

While the Grand Palais remains closed under refurbishment, the French fashion house erected a 'Grand Palais Éphémère' on Place Joffre for the SS22 ready-to-wear collection. To evoke the Chanel fashion shows of the 1980s Virginia Viard recreated the raised runway, photographer-filled front row and bold 'Chanel' lettering of decade's past.

'I used to love the sound of flashbulbs going off at the shows in the ’80s, when the models were on a raised runway,' Viard wrote in the show notes. 'I wanted to recapture that emotion.'

Creative Director Virginie Viard recreated a summer village wedding in the Grand Palais for the SS21 Couture show. With Penélope Cruz, Marion Cotillard and Lily-Rose Depp as esteemed guests.

'I knew we couldn't organise a big show, that we would have to invent something else, so I came up with the idea of a small cortege that would come down the stairs of the Grand Palais and pass beneath arches of flowers. Like a family celebration, a wedding.' Viard said.

The simple, but no less moving set, feels somewhat fantastical in a year where weddings are limited, bringing hope to Haute Couture fashion week.

For Chanel's final show of 2020 the fashion house took the world to France, Château de Chenonceau in the Loire valley to be precise, for the 2020/21 Métiers d’art show. Seen only by Kristen Stewart, the models walked the empty rooms in a show titled, ‘Le Château des Dames’.

Watch the full show here.

Harking back to the golden age of cinema, Chanel recreated the Hollywood sign in the Grand Palais.

Models walked between the iconic brand's oversized lettering for the SS21 show, that hosted a reduced crowd due to the ongoing pandemic.

Continuing her stream of more understated show sets, creative director Virginie Viard transformed the Grand Palais into a minimalist map. A more graphic take on the environmental theme that has run throughout fashion month, Viard had guests sit on swirling white benches that, from an aerial view, revealed themselves to be ordnance survey lines that you would find on a geographical map.

Creative Director Virginie Viard transformed the Grand Palais into a garden inspired by the garden of the Cistercian monastery in Aubazine named Aubazine Abbey.

Turning to the founder of the fashion house for inspiration, Creative Director Virginie Viard recreated Coco Chanel's iconic mirrored Parisian apartment inside the Grand Palais for the Metiers d'Art 19/20 show.

Virginie Viard recreated the rooftops of Paris in the Grand Palais for Chanel's SS20 show. Featuring chimneys and brick work, the set is slightly more laid-back than Karl Lagerfield's previous creations.

For Virginie Viard's first Chanel Haute Couture show the new Creative Director transformed the Grand Palais into the most impressive library ever.

A central circular pillar housed thousands of books with guest seated on the stairs to view the show.

For the first resort collection under the direction of the brand’s new head designer, Virginie Viard, the brand transformed the Grand Palais into a Beaux-Arts style train station.

For the final Chanel show under Karl Lagerfeld's creative direction the Grand Palais in Paris was transformed into an alpine winter wonderland Chanel called, 'Chalet Gardenia'. ELLE UK's Cat Callender, present for the momentous occasion said of the atmosphere, 'That crispness that you get in the mountains and the uplifting feel that you get skiing or in a snowy environment is what is going on here. It is sad, yes as this is a post Karl moment, but the feeling in here is uplifting and light.'

For Lagerfeld's penultimate show with Chanel he envisioned the Grand Palais as 'Villa Chanel'. For the set a terracotta villa stood over an 18th Century garden.

For the Chanel Métiers d'Art 18/19 collection, Lagerfeld opted for The Met museum as his set.