Chanel S/S 1995 Paris

[bgekk]

 

[bgekk]

vogue.com

 

[bgekk]

vogue.com

 

[bgekk]

vogue.com

 

[bgekk]

vogue.com

 

[bgekk]

vogue.com

 

[MulletProof]

This collection was so trashy.. in a fun way. The sun and the moon tattoo peaking out of the pubic area is just .. definitely unexpected for Chanel. I don't know why this is cracking me up.. the new guy would be grilled if he put out something like this but if I were him, I'd always bring this up under scrutiny..

 

[GERGIN]

Posting the full runway WITH original runway track because it’s too iconic.

 

[Phuel]

This collection was so trashy.. in a fun way. The sun and the moon tattoo peaking out of the pubic area is just .. definitely unexpected for Chanel. I don't know why this is cracking me up.. the new guy would be grilled if he put out something like this but if I were him, I'd always bring this up under scrutiny..

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It is trashy— but it’s that right brand of very expensive trashiness that only someone like Karl could still have it so irresistible to all the pretty young rich things to get away with back then: This was that gen that lived life by Karl’s mantra that anyone that wears sweats in public has truly given up on life. And it’s so deliriously politically-incorrect in how proudly Lolita-esque the supreme cast played it all up that would get a brand cancelled in 2026, that I adore this larger-than-privileged-life exhibitionism that was high fashion, even more now. Anyone that believes for a hot second that high fashion is anything but pure hedonism/elitism/narcissism; instead that it's intellectualism, individualism and sustainability, is an un-ironic fashion cartoon.

Looking at this in 2026, only the cropped jacket looks still charm. But the way it’s styled has been co-opted by the type of characters that Jennifer Coolidge portrays: Women that are 30 pounds overweight but will wear clothes that are 2-4 sizes too small for them because they've been convinced that fat rolls are curves. I can see a stylish woman could wear the cropped jackets with very fitted, tailored Thom Browne Bermuda shorts, and Ferragamo brogues. The girls I knew lusted for those Chanel cropped polo-style jackets that their mums would never (alongside Manolo maryjanes that the mums would)— and the boys all lusted for Brandi in that Chanel cropped polo-top jacket. (…I still remember the urban legend that Brandi was 14yo and modelling topless, so all the 13yo boys would run to the newsstand flipping through all the Elles/Bazaars/Vogues when the new issues came in, looking for her legendary topless shots. Meanwhile, she was already 18yo in 1995 LMFAO…)

 

[MulletProof]

^ yes, that's why even though I was never a fan, I could never look away or not care for his work.. his shows were always this endless extravaganza that made my eyes roll, or feel cynical and often cringe (particularly in his last decade when he seemed to be scrambling to find 'cool' stuff -remember when he was trying to make Cat Power this new 'cool artist I bet you haven't heard of'? 😆).. but among all the endless trail of clothes, there was always a moment that reminded you that this was the output of a romantic-sounding fashion house that still honored and delivered almost intact the more traditional lines or ideas most women were exposed to growing up and that feels oddly familiar because that's the extent of its mark in attire and popular culture. Even with this collection, which looks positively dated, there are still pieces (the black ones) that could fit into present day and that have that element of timelessness that feels quintessentially Chanel. I know I would loooove to find that dress on Shalom.

lol you got me watching GERGIN's video just to double check on whether Brandi is still the worst (as in most obnoxious) runway model I've ever seen (closely followed by Trish Goff), AND SHE IS. The little smile at the end? just wrap it up and leave, girl.

 

[Maayan]

Brandi is still the worst (as in most obnoxious) runway model

LOL, Brandi and her infamous "nip slip" at almost every fashion show she did (Atelier Versace, Dior, Sonia Rykiel, Herve Leger, Jean-Paul Gaultier, to name a few)

I also remember how everyone was saying that Rosemarie Wetzel, who debuted at Chanel SS 1995, was going to become the next Cindy Crawford. The girl did a couple of big shows (Dior, Alberta Ferretti, Chanel, Valentino, Fendi), dated Marcus Schenkenberg and then was never really heard from again.

 

[MulletProof]

^ I remember having a conversation with someone here, years ago, about how some backgrounds (Dutch, Argentinian, maybe a few others) seem to value higher education to a point where it makes it difficult for models to stay committed to the more intellectually confined nature of modeling, and when they do, they still seem conflicted. Don't know if that's true in this particular case but I find these super short 'left and never looked back' stories more mythical than the 'please let me back in, I still got it!!!' meltdowns from the models who were lucky enough to have extraordinarily long careers out of selling beauty standards.. seeing someone find out that there's 'more to life than being really really really ridiculous good-looking'.. admirable lol.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ Christy Turlington mentioned in an interview that she was always embarrassed by her profession when she would be in a room full of writers. And although she should never be embarrassed by what is essentially a blessed career based solely on her looks, her self-awareness, humility and down-to-earth attitude is so endearing. If only models of this generation were as humble: You’re not that important. And that goes for designers/stylists/photographers etc

lol you got me watching GERGIN's video just to double check on whether Brandi is still the worst (as in most obnoxious) runway model I've ever seen (closely followed by Trish Goff), AND SHE IS. The little smile at the end? just wrap it up and leave, girl.

The show is sloppy messy fun: From the inclusion of Short Dick Man on the soundtrack; to the men carrying the cast out for the finale; to Kristen snatching back the Chanel bag from the runway floor when a photographer pulled it away when someone dropped it, like he was going to keep it. (Back then, I thought clubkid Richie Rich was Kristen’s alter ego persona); to when Karl was fat… It all resembled something a rich elementary school would produce for their fashion show but all so irresistibly charming.

(Brandi’s adorable! She had mentioned that her obnoxious strut was done out of her own insecurities next to all the top girls so she overcompensated: That’s relatable. But us children ate it all up nonetheless.)

 

[Lola701]

I have an endless love/hate relationship with this collection.
I have always loved the looks on Victoire! That « Bar » jacket? To die for!
And all the wide legged looks of the show! So chic even with those vulgar shoes lol.

Such an entertaining show though with all it chaos.
It’s a bit sad that this collection has become for a lot of people the epitome of what Chanel in the 90’s was.

I think it’s always interesting to see the work of Karl in the 80’s and 90’s which was in many ways always in reaction or provocation.

This was at the time when Chanel wasn’t the powerhouse it became in the 2000’s in a sense where it took a lot of bravado to go totally against « the historic clientele » and challenge the perception of the house.

This is the era when Karl had an ongoing fashion conversation with Gianni, strengthen by the fact that they both worked with Carlyne.

But ultimately, Chanel RTW from 1990 to 1995 was more an exercise de style, using styling elements than a real creative statement. The clothes are always in many ways, quite classic. He really pushed himself with Couture.

I still think SS1994 was superior to this even if this is pure Glamour and extravaganza.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ I never realized how deliriously budget DIY the sets still were in the mid-90s, even provincial: 4th-grade school play comes to mind. The exquisite cast saves the show— except for the always insipid Carla. The chaotic vibe is so fun: The sole model randomly, frantically stripping to a bikini, mid-runway is so charmingly clueless; if that were planned, then shouldn’t she strip when she reached the end of the runway where the impact would have served better for the photographers??? Instead, she’s completely trampled over by the rest of the girls while she frantically stumbles to put her platforms back on LMFAO But Victoire skipping out in pure joy like she prepared for this all her life and the cheers for her are so wholesome. I always got the impression that by the mid-90s, the sets were already the multi-million dollar bloated affairs that became synonymous with Karl’s Chanel runway shows. It’s almost endearing to see that that’s not the case, and it’s still budget DIY local theatre kids sets.

(I've completely misremembered all along, because I always associated Brandi with the Chanel logo’d guitar of the late-90s. Looking her up just now, she seems a tad… sad. She’s still a beautiful woman, but her radiance is gone— like she heard Mullet calling her obnoxious in 1995 and is shrinking away to a hard life for the last 25 years. I can relate LOL …weeps...)

 

[Lola701]

^^^ I never realized how deliriously budget DIY the sets still were in the mid-90s, even provincial: 4th-grade school play comes to mind. The exquisite cast saves the show— except for the always insipid Carla. The chaotic vibe is so fun: The sole model randomly, frantically stripping to a bikini, mid-runway is so charmingly clueless; if that were planned, then shouldn’t she strip when she reached the end of the runway where the impact would have served better for the photographers??? Instead, she’s completely trampled over by the rest of the girls while she frantically stumbles to put her platforms back on LMFAO But Victoire skipping out in pure joy like she prepared for this all her life and the cheers for her are so wholesome. I always got the impression that by the mid-90s, the sets were already the multi-million dollar bloated affairs that became synonymous with Karl’s Chanel runway shows. It’s almost endearing to see that that’s not the case, and it’s still budget DIY local theatre kids sets.

(I've completely misremembered all along, because I always associated Brandi with the Chanel logo’d guitar of the late-90s. Looking her up just now, she seems a tad… sad. She’s still a beautiful woman, but her radiance is gone— like she heard Mullet calling her obnoxious in 1995 and is shrinking away to a hard life for the last 25 years. I can relate LOL …weeps...)

This was the first year of Paris Fashion Week at the Carrousel du Louvre.
Considering that Karl was the first to show there for his SS1994 Couture, this was his 4th show there.

And I think before the shows were held either in a tent at La Cour carrée du Louvre or whatever museum.

I think the space was great because they were able to really film the shows in a more dramatic way but yes the first few years were a bit off.

It’s funny but I think the way they used the space for the RTW 96 show was more elevated than those « sets » of the early days. Later they used the space wonderfully and were even able to do some grandiose things like the stairs (SS2001).

But as you talk about cheap looking set, the set for the first show in le Grand Palais was so cheap looking to me: the computer for SS2006. Big for no reason with those cheap looking curtains.

Karl really elevated season after season.

 

[Phuel]

^^^...I'd like to imagine that some very fortunate devotee somewhere owes some of the more elaborate construction parts/sculptural pieces from some of these later shows in their estate LOL

As the space became more grand, the sets became more refined, and the cast more tightly choreographed, and a lot of that instantaneous charm, force of personality and spontaneous fun became lost, unfortunately. Veronique’s Chanel shows were such a non-event of course because I just never got the impression she understood that Karl’s Chanel shows were an event and not a routine. But Mathieu’s just seems so soulless despite the huge production values and/or the contrived rawness in the NYC subway. His would actually look much improved if he just kept ti simple and returned to Coco’s studio showing. Sadly, that’s likely not an option for such a bluechip brand anymore: Shows must be like a Disney Marvel Universe blockbuster nowadays populated by their thousands of pouched ambassadors and celebs— or in the subway to relate to the casual shoppers so they’d buy a lipstick from the brand. These 90s shows felt like such a genuine family and friends gathering in comparison.

Even the grand multi-million dollar shows of Karl’s last years stayed true to who he was and what’s Chanel represented in the industry. Tastes and preferences of fashion is so personal, and someone who is a Chanel devotee could be the most interesting, creative and fiercely individualistic woman despite what some may be convinced of how “conservative” the Chanel woman is— while the devotees of so-called “intellectual” labels (despise that term applied to fashion) end up being the most shallow, bland and basic followers. But that Mathieu show in the NYC subway just leaves such a clueless bad taste in social tourism. Karl would have had a multi-million dollar glam gilded golden set of a Chanel subway set constructed, and made no apologies about it. And in these days of brands’ desperate performative virtues and begging for likes/follows from commoners to buy lipsticks, I appreciate Karl’s brand of gatekeeping more and more.

 

[MulletProof]

^ it's nearly impossible to imitate the tone-deafness of the old guard no matter how shallow one is.. it was natural to them because it came from a multitude of century-defining events in their lifetime and actual hardship.. doing it now never lands in that charmingly decadent spot because, if you dig deeper, there's usually a despicable or questionable factor you probably don't want to know.. especially with designers who are kind of headless chickens with their digital footprint and inviting controversy feels like opening a can of worms lol. With Karl, as buffoon-ish and corrosive as he could be, you could tell that the job amounted for most of his activities and that he was so enclosed in that world that he really could not see how it meshed into current popular culture, and that the only anti-social element about him more 'concerning' than his verbal diarrhea episodes and old man grumpiness, was the prolonged, cautionary tale-ish loneliness he lived in.

(Brandi’s adorable! She had mentioned that her obnoxious strut was done out of her own insecurities next to all the top girls so she overcompensated: That’s relatable. But us children ate it all up nonetheless.)

Yes, it's the kind of strut that is quickly regulated by other girls, and.. face alienation if you keep at it.

Brandi seems to be doing okay, she looks stunning now and isn't nostalgic about the 90s or her youth, which is far more sane than the outlook of other models (even those from the Russian or doll wave in the early 00s).

 

[Phuel]

^^^ Projection on my part perhaps— but you can sort of catch a glimpse of how the girls walking behind Brandi may have felt about her OTTs strut— of which she clearly copied from Yasmeen’s ferocious swagger. …To be a fly on the wall backstage at this show… (When I was a senio in HS, there was a group of younger grade girls, lead by this girl that was very pretty, very tall, very thin and she was represented by a model agency so she came across as having an entitled worth in HS girl world; She really was ambitious and tried to be in with my BFF and her girls, but they wouldn’t have it. Girl world is endlessly fascinating to observe— and doesn’t end with women in the professional world either: I get that same vibe from the rest of the cast towards Brandi.)

Admittedly, I’m much more kinder and forgiving of Karl and his Chanel as a reaction to the slop that’s inflicted the industry. But frankly, other than the variations of classic signatures, the other offerings are not even up to Anna Sui creative standards: WTF is that negligee with the silver stars that Claudia wears, barefoot to boot LOL Even by comparison, Mathieu’s take on the classic tweeds are inventively solid, while once he moves away from that Chanel template, the fillers he’s dragged in from his Bottega, are the equivalent of that DIY Barbie negligee on Claudia. (…Again, it’s all about the cast: WTFfffff was that hand-wave from Versuschka LOOOL …What does Shalom say to the male model after he sets her down from his shoulders in the finale…??? The show is so dynamic for the cast’s intermingling. If only the show had the same production clarity of @bgekk 's pics-- we can clearly see the annoyance of the others towards Brandi LOL)

 

[Lola701]

^^^...I'd like to imagine that some very fortunate devotee somewhere owes some of the more elaborate construction parts/sculptural pieces from some of these later shows in their estate LOL

As the space became more grand, the sets became more refined, and the cast more tightly choreographed, and a lot of that instantaneous charm, force of personality and spontaneous fun became lost, unfortunately. Veronique’s Chanel shows were such a non-event of course because I just never got the impression she understood that Karl’s Chanel shows were an event and not a routine. But Mathieu’s just seems so soulless despite the huge production values and/or the contrived rawness in the NYC subway. His would actually look much improved if he just kept ti simple and returned to Coco’s studio showing. Sadly, that’s likely not an option for such a bluechip brand anymore: Shows must be like a Disney Marvel Universe blockbuster nowadays populated by their thousands of pouched ambassadors and celebs— or in the subway to relate to the casual shoppers so they’d buy a lipstick from the brand. These 90s shows felt like such a genuine family and friends gathering in comparison.

Even the grand multi-million dollar shows of Karl’s last years stayed true to who he was and what’s Chanel represented in the industry. Tastes and preferences of fashion is so personal, and someone who is a Chanel devotee could be the most interesting, creative and fiercely individualistic woman despite what some may be convinced of how “conservative” the Chanel woman is— while the devotees of so-called “intellectual” labels (despise that term applied to fashion) end up being the most shallow, bland and basic followers. But that Mathieu show in the NYC subway just leaves such a clueless bad taste in social tourism. Karl would have had a multi-million dollar glam gilded golden set of a Chanel subway set constructed, and made no apologies about it. And in these days of brands’ desperate performative virtues and begging for likes/follows from commoners to buy lipsticks, I appreciate Karl’s brand of gatekeeping more and more.

A friend of mine managed to steal a biscottes box at the supermarket show but I don’t think there were that many elements to steal at Chanel shows on top of my head as a lot of things were used for windows.

It’s like at Balenciaga when people used to cut part of the carpet at Rue Cassette when they used one for the set lol.

I really believe Karl when he said that he dreamed of his shows because it really showed. I have attended shows at Carrousel and Grand Palais and while I was never 1st or 2nd row, I would say that even at 4th row, you had the sense of showmanship still.
The music was always upbeat, the girls walked fast and weirdly when he showed 90 looks, it never felt like it because the message was clear…Even when the collections weren’t themed.

Sometimes we were so far from the clothes that what we got was a silhouette in mind and the mood of the show. Like the FW2013 show. The number of rows was insane!
But for me it was really about his clothes. I adore his clothes, particularly his dresses so for me it wasn’t solely about the showmanship.

Gianni for example, I rarely was in love or awe looking at his clothes but his shows had a great impact.


I have to be honest in saying that I totally detach what Blazy is doing at Chanel from Karl. Yes sometimes I appreciate when I see nods to Karl but so much of what I liked about Karl’s work was the actual clothes that since he cannot be replicated as a designer and that the Virginie page has been turned, I’m able to appreciate Blazy work for what it is.

Were Fendi shows under Karl always entertaining from a production POV? No. But the clothes were always great or interesting to me. And Fendi was never the brand where he would bring back an iconic model, do stunts or whatever….

But Blazy needs to find a rythmn for his shows. Huge sets with models walking miles works when they are walking fast. I can watch Nicolas shows because the girls would literally run ahahah.

I think the Couture, Métiers D’arts were rather great shows. And that’s because of the smaller scale.

I’m satisfied with Blazy.
Karl’s career and longevity gave him the freedom to do things that nobody could do or that no executive would allow today.

But ultimately Karl took Chanel at a different point than Blazy. He had to rebuild, to destroy, to reinvent. That lasting 36 years was probably a surprise even to him.

Blazy has to refresh a legacy of a mega brand.