'I design like I breathe. You don’t ask to breathe. It just happens,’ Karl Lagerfeld told Women’s Wear Daily, following his first Chanel show in 1983.
The same ease carried through today’s AW19 show, Lagerfeld’s last, designed with trusted collaborator and friend, Virginie Viard, before he sadly passed away in February.
The show was a touching tribute to the late designer, with the venue, a recreation of a snow-capped Alpine town, with frozen firs and chalets, paying homage to Lagerfeld’s love of Salzburg, where he held his 2014 Métiers d'Art show because of Coco Chanel's relationship with the Austrian city. His hand - and voice - was also present throughout.
On each attendee’s seat was a final message from the man himself: ‘The Beat Goes On,’ written beneath an illustration of himself walking beside the label’s namesake, Coco Chanel. It echoes a sentiment he once shared with the New York Times: ‘To look back… forget about it. Fashion is now and tomorrow.’
A voice message played too, with Lagerfeld flitting between French and English. ‘It’s like walking in a painting,’ he said of his design process. It could’ve just as easily been said of today’s show. There was a stillness to it, despite the number of guests present to pay tribute, and watch the designer’s swan song.
Soft steam clouds curled from the chimneys of the set’s chalets - built-in, rather than flat facades, as Lagerfeld never did anything by halves. A minute’s silence added to the stillness; it felt poignant; respectful.
So too did the measured gait of the models that walked. Long-term ambassador and friend of the house, Cara Delevingne, opened the show, slowly and respectfully ambling through the snow-filled venue (the Grand Palais, home of many grand Chanel sets, including the boulevard featuring feminist marches for SS15, and the forest of AW18).
Delevingne, like those who followed, was in a look carrying the codes that define the house: a monochromatic tweed coat, with chain-link belt and costume jewellery.
The playful elements - classic Karl’isms - were there throughout. Don’t let it be said that Lagerfeld lacked humour, with whimsical re-workings of ski resort cable-cars among the accessories. It wouldn’t be a Chanel show without those touches, and bold, bright renderings of the classic bouclé jacket.
By that standard, this collection was unequivocally Chanel; it was unequivocally Karl Lagerfeld. The supersized coats with supersized houndstooth prints; the interlocking ‘C’ logo, endlessly reworked in ways both subtle and statement; the bum-bag and ‘pile it on’ approach to accessories; the intricately crafted yet characterful separates. These were all there, finished with crystals and jewellery that shone - like when sun hits snow.
The collection captured the joie de vivre for which Lagerfeld was known by celebrating his work’s beauty. That is what everyone from the editors and stylists, to the committed clients in the audience will remember. It’s what the friends of Chanel and Lagerfeld - from Cara Delevingne, and Penelope Cruz, who closed the show carrying a white rose - paid respect to, applauding as the show ended.
David Bowie’s 'Heroes' played for the finale, just as it did as Fendi remembered its co-creative director at its AW19 show. ‘I will be King, and you, you will be Queen,’ sang Bowie. It could’ve just as easily been Lagerfeld, King of the Chanel castle, singing to his right-hand, his successor, and friend Virginie Viard.
Rest in peace, Karl Lagerfeld. Gone but not forgotten.
