A Retrospective: Chanel under Karl Lagerfeld (1983- 2019)

[Boomer]

Does anyone know the history of Karl's Chanel Pre Fall and Resort collections or shows? The information seems confusing before a couple of years back- but I've seen that he has actually been doing them for some time...Maybe they were just collections and ad campaigns without shows?

 

[ilaughead]

^Good question, there wasn't much publicity for the precollections before cruise 2007. According to WWD, "Lagerfeld launched Chanel's métiers d'art collection in 2002" but I don't know if that means the first collection was prefall 2002 or 2003. The shows I am sure of are as follows:

2010 Prefall - Shanghai (Venue - to be announced)
2010 Cruise - Venice (Plage du Lido)
2009 Prefall - Moscow (Theatre du Ranelagh, Paris later at the Maly Theatre in Moscow)
2009 Cruise - Miami (The Raleigh)
2008 Prefall - London (Phillips de Pury)
2008 Cruise - Los Angeles (Santa Monica Airport)
2007 Prefall - Monte Carlo (Salle Garnier)
2007 Cruise - New York (Grand Central Terminal)
2006 Prefall - New York (Chanel Boutique, 57th Street)
2006 Cruise - Paris (Buses around Paris and the Café de Flore)
2005 Prefall - Tokyo (Chanel Boutique, Ginza)
2005 Cruise - Paris (Tour boat on the Seine)
2004 Prefall - ???
2004 Cruise - ???
2003 Prefall - ???
2003 Cruise - ???
2002 Prefall - ??? (May not have existed this year)
2002 Cruise - Paris (Café Marly)

And another prefall collection was shown in Paris, but I'm not sure which year.

 

[Dkammern]

the boat is as far back as my memory goes too.
i'm pretty sure the tokyo collection was the first prefall. That is, as we know them right now (metiers d'arts, the 'satelites', etc) because it's the year when Chanel bought lesage, lemarie, massaro, montex, et al.
In fact, i thing in terms of look-books, windows, prices, the time the clothes hit the stores and also which stores, chanel stills differentiate between metiers d'arts and prefall. it's just that the former gets all the attention, one rarely hears about the latter if it's not by visiting the stores.

on a side note:
i remember the first day i found out there were fashion shows, or even fashion in general, posted online (i thought fashion was a strictly-magazine-kind-of-thing that was hardly ever on tv, and that was only when galliano would decide to do weird things like egyptian goddesses and stuff like that)
the thing is i was looking god knows what online and i found the dior site. i saw there was a video, and that's how i discovered the fall 05 couture collection. after watching it twice i wondered what other fashion label could have a website (as if that was something crazy) and ended up chez chanel. that's when i watched the couture show, and the cruise 2006 show (the tramways and le Flore)

i can't say i wasnt interested in fashion before, because it's something i've always noticed or liked, but that was certainly the day when it became 'relevant'
so... yeah... BRAVO FOR THE CRUISE 2006 SHOW!!

 

[Boomer]

^ Yup- the 2006 Cruise on the buses was great- I have some of the pictures in my book but have never been able to find the whole collection or any HQs... I need a free afternoon to screencap the video on YouTube I guess...And I will never forgive myself for not going to the Grand Central Show- since the public could watch the whole thing and see everybody from downstairs... and I didn't go...

 

[Boomer]

Oh, and thanks for all the info- nice to know I'm not the only Chanel-Obsessive Nutcase out there... I figure they will give me a job at some point just because they would be afraid to say no...

 

[Boomer]

Nice article...

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2009/8/13/lifeliving/4483713&sec=lifeliving

 

[GrungePrincesss]

what's better than karl articles... VINTAGE KARL ARTICLES!!!!

uncle karl hasnt changed... (he still talks about his mother, he still reads and quotes Goethe, he still has this obsession for buying, decorating, redecorating, and selling houses around the world) ... and yet, he is never demode.... he is BEYOOOOOOND!

And he's still as narcissistic as he was then. I love everything about that man. I'll never tire of him.

 

[GrungePrincesss]

His Spring 1999 collection is breathtaking. The restraint, minimalism, ease of the clothes...Wow. I love how modern it still is. Anyone on the street can wear an outfit of this collection and it would not look dated at all.

 

[helmut.newton]

Nice article...

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2009/8/13/lifeliving/4483713&sec=lifeliving

Thanks for posting this Boomer!

I knew of Lesage, Lemarie and Massaro, but I had no idea of the other ateliers that Chanel used. Does anyone have information on Michel (hats), Goosens (gold and silversmithing) or Desrues (costume jewellery)?

 

[Dkammern]

^^ karl is trying to push Michel lately by adding more headpieces to his collections and shooting look-books in his rue de lille studio (they were shown at colette this summer starring the likes of Olivier Zahm and models and that kind of cool people who surround cool karl) B)

 

[Boomer]

Can anyone ID this dress? It must be Chanel, since she is Karl's boss... B) CHANEL's Barbara Cirkva attends the New York City Ballet 2009-2010 season opening night celebration at the David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center on November 24, 2009 in New York City.

GettyImages.com

 

[ilaughead]

I like to think Karl is his own boss and that the company bends to his every wish...

style.com

 

[Boomer]

^^ Thank you! We try to humor the Chanel executives and let them believe they run things...

 

[martinel]

Does anyone have the full collections of Chanel from 1995 to 1998 (especially Haute Couture)?

 

[Creative]

I don't know if you've seen this video. It's lovely, very Chanel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1ZGn3vNCUU

 

[sethii]

I remember watching that on TV. It was so fun.

My least favourite was Miami

 

[Boomer]

^ Thanks! Some of the material from the older shows is getting hard to find....

 

[taz]

I remeber back in the late 90's 'maybe in 95 not sure' Karl was in a an embarassing trouble, when Claudia came out on the runway in a black dress with arabic golden calligraphy & then his arabic clintee get an uncomfortable expression ... these motifs where from muslims holy book 'Quran', he apologised immediatly after the show & pulled that look from the collection, he said that he was at Taj Mahal in India & saw those motifs on the tombs & thought they were love poemes!

 

[Dkammern]

i'm back from a weekend in london and i've been to "some" shop (name i can't reveal) where i had the pleasure to enter a locked back room with the most amazing collection of vintage i have ever seen in my life.
seen the new UBERLARGE black pattent reissue? we'll they had the same, but an original from the 80s (one of karl's first creations for the house that must be) so the flap had the double Cs, black quilted lamb, gold hardware... only 50 copies available in the world.
price tag: the seller has been offered 100000 pounds (i doubled check the zeros when typing), but he wants more
:|

conclusion: unlike houses, or the stock market, or diamonds, or whatever really... the kaiser never looses its value

 

[Boomer]

^ That's true- there is serious investment value here...If I had a ton of cash, I think I would invest in some and keep them safely locked up for a few years- seriously! Did you see the Red Shanghai bag that he signed? A fortune- and immediately sold out- you could probably sell an unused one next year for twice what it cost... B)