Chanel F/W 10.11 Paris

[carte_postale]

I can't believe these ugly fur boots are Chanel...

 

[tanii94]

Um.... I'll try and come back later. I think Karl's having a breakdown.

 

[Boomer]

WWD 3/9/10-
He has yet to officially move mountains, but Karl Lagerfeld came close with the 265-ton iceberg he had imported from the northern reaches of Sweden to the Grand Palais for Tuesday’s Chanel show. Standing 28 feet tall in a placid pool of water, the glacial sculpture was a spectacular sight that forced those complaining about the subsequent chill to save their frozen breath. Besides, the subzero air (-4ºC) only made the collection’s fantastic downy knits and fuzzy tweeds all the more enticing. Not that they needed a boost — both the clothes and the set sent shivers down one’s spine.

As usual, no expense was spared. Thirty-five ice sculptors brought in from around the world took six days to carve the snow/ice or snice, as it’s called, which, surprisingly, was not the show’s only vocabulary lesson. The other: fantasy fur, Karl talk for the incredibly convincing faux fuzz developed for the shaggy, full-body polar bear coats, pants and boots — knee-highs and gaiters. Less rugged, more ladylike treatments imitated luscious fur trims on leather jackets, miniskirts, sleeves and hems, radiating cozy Chanelian chic while sending a major message: With the real ice caps melting, the ecosystem endangered, why contribute to the wildlife’s demise? And when the results are this good, there’s really no excuse.

But at Chanel, eco doesn’t mean economy. The production level required to create the collection’s hyper tweeds bursting with textural details, such as fluffy yarn, tulle and lace, and all sorts of agate and quartz embellishments, doesn’t come cheap. And the house has an audience willing to pay. Recession be damned — last year’s sales were reportedly the best in Chanel’s history. In this case, those big bucks will buy a visual feast, from the sweet white sweater dresses with patches of frosty blue to the frothy finale of ivory dresses trailing cascades of tulle and lace. As for the accessories, such as the snowball bag and boots with icicle heels, they were the icing on the cake.

 

[Spiral1532]

lol omg! was otzi his inspiration? im dying at the fur pants + boots

Hilarious and spot-on!

 

[simple_elegance]

A BEAUTIFUL set. Not liking the fur, fake or real. I like most of the rest of it though.

 

[Psylocke]

OMG!!!
I love this! The presentation and the venue are amazing and I love the ice cube bags! And I think all the off white outfits are beautiful as always.

 

[jomarlushka]

if it is fake i'm really happy although i still don't like the look of it - but please no matter what look - try to spare poor animals!

 

[Deleted member 1957]

no way...the collection itself has some nice pieces in it but the furs are just plain horrible

 

[Fiercification]

This is bad...especially considering that the Spring collection was pretty nice. Those boots are really ugly . And that white bra and panties look, really? Chanel is the last house I expect to give me an 'expensive' hip hop ho look .

 

[RaniLovesNYC]

If it wasn't for the yeti fur garb, I'd like it. But some of the normal clothes are very nice I liked what he did for his own label and Fendi way better.

 

[XxpinktinksxX]

Like it!! Very beautiful and dareing collection.

I do agree with you although i cant deny that im a tiny bit disappointed

 

[dior_couture1245]

So incredibly indulgent and tacky I cannot even comprehend. I mean, a real iceberg??? What does that prove?

Karl is over in my opinion. He has nothing interesting to say anymore so he's turned instead to such hideous and offensive gimmicks in order to impress...and it's no longer impressive...or amusing, even.

I'm done.

 

[Crying Diamonds]

I haven't properly looked at the full collection yet, as I think I will wait for it in motion to judge, but I do know that the fur industry is going to be hating on Karl right now with his "triumph of fake fur"!!

 

[Creative]

'You can not fake chic but you can be chic in fake fur'. KL.

I don't like fake fur at all, the one he used looks cheap and most of it has no movement. I don't like this collection at all but I've reviewed it and I've seen a few details that are not that bad.

I still love you Karl, and I'm happy you were wearing my favourite brooch (you should give it to me, it would be a great present).

 

[Donatello89]

Faux Fur would add to the global warming problem, actually.

soooo not ! there are a lot of biologic clothes and materials now, i mean there is a deal between the act of killing animals to make clothes and makes this animals dying because of climate troubles !

 

[KKnardi]

fake fur will always look like fake fur, and this is no exception. if wet, even worse...
but I like the theme as for the collection.

 

[Verene]

I'm glad that he used faux fur instead of genuine fur, but isn't not using fur at all better? I have never seen Chanel as a house that features fur... it's not Fendi.

And he puts the iceberg on the stage as a cautionary tale for global warming? Isn't putting an iceberg in a show an incredibly energy exhausting act?

 

[mackos]

It's all so awful that I don't even want to look at it.

PARIS, March 9, 2010

By Sarah Mower

Freja Beha Erichsen and three bears on an ice floe. This was the arctic scene at Chanel, where giant chunks of bona fide iceberg, specially transported from Scandinavia, formed the frozen landscape around which models solemnly splashed through a sea of 'berg-melt in shaggy snow boots with ice-block heels.

The Karl conceit of the season, no surprises, was an in-every-way extravagant play on Coco in cold weather. Using more fur than he'd even flung at Fendi—the twist being that here the fur was fake—Lagerfeld steered this collection nearer to couture than ready-to-wear than ever. Fur was woven into brown tweeds; formed deep pelmets on the lower half of leather jackets; became almost igloo-shaped capes, bonnets, even—for goodness' sake—furry trousers. Meanwhile, the suit and coat combinations also had a level of lavish elaboration usually reserved for haute eveningwear. Fur-fringed embroideries and ice jewelry conspired to create intensely worked ruffled and beaded silhouettes that glinted with rock-crystal neckpieces and fistfuls of rings. Somewhere in there, a flash of translucent silver seemed to be a clutch in which the quilting of the CC classic bag had been frozen into the likeness of a refrigerator ice cube tray.

It was a lucky stroke that the weather outside had kindly assisted Chanel in whipping subzero winds around the Grand Palais while this display was going on. Since humans are suggestible, it took only the merest suspension of disbelief to imagine this collection hitting the mark next fall, despite the fact that it will start to be delivered in July—and who knows in which century we'll have another winter like this one? Nevertheless, putting global warming and the melting of ice caps both center stage and on the back burner (as it were), this show swept the audience along as they were treated to such amusements as seeing Karl Lagerfeld's favorite, Baptiste Giabiconi, swagger out of an ice cave in a full-length polar bear coat.

It wasn't all played for laughs. Within the context of a season of innovative knitwear, Chanel's was some of the most outstanding. A group of three short angora sweater dresses, tinted iceberg blue in the center, was an amazing follow-up from something Lagerfeld did with dégradé pastel embroidery in couture. One gray and black cardigan coat was knitted in a bubbly grid to mimic a down-filled puffer. And the finale was given to a wedding dress knitted in silk tulle ribbon to resemble Chanel's bouclé tweed, forming a tight-fitting sweater in the body and then sweeping away in flounces in back. The bride—Freja, again—dangled an ice-block purse on a fur-woven Chanel chain.

style.com

 

[TianSoFine]

I agree with everyone above who said that the fur boots were hideous and the fur coats were overdone. But yetis aside...this collection had some beautiful dresses and coats, especially the ones with less fur. Some of the looks were just stunning.

Although not one of the best collections from Karl, this one was definitely interesting and it was so much better than most other shows this season. And I loved the iceberg!

 

[tigerrouge]

i dont think it was actual ice, i think it was made to look like it, it would be impossible to get a huge piece of ice that big outside of the north pole

I think it was a story concocted to get people talking, either in admiration or outrage, Karl was trying to cover both bases. The logistics of getting it there, and the insurance and health & safety aspects of having a bit of iceberg sitting about make it implausible - but fashion shows are not here to make us consider such mundane things. But in terms of stagecraft, I would like to know what they did.