Virginie Viard is a fan of
Who are you Polly Maggoo?
And no doubt because its legendary director, William Klein, died last September, she has revisited this delirious satire of the fashion world of the 1960s.
Her own Polly is called Nana Komatsu, a young Japanese actress and Chanel ambassador who, in the teasers shown on Instagram, plays the
sixties
models in her small Parisian studio lined with her own shots.
The young lady is of course in the front row of the show, sitting between Penélope Cruz and the young and pretty Whitney Peak, new muse of the bestseller Coco Mademoiselle (not far away, we also see Patti Smith!) facing a monumental camellia.
“
The camellia?
, asks the artistic director, the day before in her studio on rue Cambon where the accessorizing takes place in the presence of her accomplices, the star photographers Inez & Vinoodh.
It is obviously Coco's emblematic flower…”
(“The Lady of the Camellias
, it was my life”,
said Gabrielle Chanel, who recounted having seen the play with Sarah Bernhardt, Editor's note
).
Read alsoThe fantastic bestiary of the Chanel haute couture show
“But there, it will come alive thanks to the films of Nana Komatsu which will be projected on the petals. I love the strange and magical side of “the talking flower”, between Jacques Demy and
My friend the rose.
And, by association of ideas, I thought of the prince, who is necessarily English with us
.
Need we remind you that the Chanel tweed was born from the love story of Gabrielle and the Duke of Westminster?
In addition, the house has just formalized a partnership with the foundation of King Charles III, keen on know-how and textile traditions, around a program dedicated to learning embroidery.
The sovereign should also soon come to visit 19M, this building at the Porte d'Aubervilliers which brings together the crafts in the bosom of Chanel.
But the ultimate prince, in the eyes of Virginie Viard, at least for this collection, is none other than David Bowie.
If nothing here is literal, there's glam rock genetics in this mesh jumpsuit that's low-cut front and back and worn over a knitted blouse with smocked cuffs.
And there is also Marianne Faithfull (
My idol
, she says) in this short jacket suit and buttoned skirt in black vinyl worn with stretch leather boots (which, on some looks, are printed with camellias right under the sole) .
To the tune of Swinging London
"
This dress is my favourite, it's very feminine artist
," she adds, pointing to a dress with a shirt collar worn by the
so chic
Swiss model , Vivienne Rohner.
A kind of long sailor top in jersey and velvet decorated with camellias and double Cs, very beautiful indeed and very simple too
(our photo)
.
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Because it is the salt of this collection which, behind the Swinging London styling (like the white lace tights), sends out
easy-to-go
clothes , very Chanel, but without the burden of the institution.
It must be said that the cast is particularly cool: the girls, many of whom have curves, give flesh to the rooms, something a little jazzy, sensual, on the soundtrack by Róisín Murphy.
There is a real sense of fashion in this black bermuda jumpsuit belted with pearls, this two-tone cashmere coat
like a man's dressing gown
, this sweater dress edged with large white feather pompoms (like stylized camellias), or even these long skirts with double tails cut in a masculine tweed and these trousers with very wide legs in quilted silk.
This time, Virginie Viard did not use archival documents.
“
But I've had a good culture of the house for the time I've been here… Which doesn't prevent me from having the right to small private lessons with the person in charge of our heritage.
Besides, I realized that I did not know certain periods of Coco so well, because during all these years with Karl
(Lagerfeld)
, we revolved around him a lot
, ”she laughs.
Like him, she says she is not obsessed with the past.
But then why these references to the cinema and the music of yesteryear?
"Really, it's not that I'm stuck in the past, but I like this freedom of the 1960-1970 period, this fashion that doesn't take itself seriously, this extravagance without ulterior motive, and which has a little disappeared, no?