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vogue.co.uk/Charlotte Casiraghi Talks Books, Bags And Bouclé At Chanel’s Latest Rendez-Vous Littéraires
BY ALICE NEWBOLD
28 SEPTEMBER 2021
Chanel’s rendez-vous littéraires represent a wonderful meeting point between the worlds of fashion and literature. A passion project of Charlotte Casiraghi, who each season assembles a panel made up of members of Chanel’s inner circle and star authors to discuss the works of literary greats, it is as elegant and expertly curated as one would expect from the house. Even better, it’s recorded, so avid readers can watch each rendez-vous online. Consider it Chanel’s haute version of a book club, if you will.
Watching Jeanette Winterson hold court, speaking about the relevance of Virginia Woolf’s legacy with Casiraghi and Keira Knightley during a snatched moment over London Fashion Week, was nothing short of joyous. If you have not already explored Winterson’s work (reading Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a rite of passage), watching the video at Chanel.com is bound to make you an instant disciple of her insightful school of thought.
Casiraghi, it turns out, wasn’t familiar with Winterson’s books until she started researching authors who had been inspired by Woolf ahead of the talk. “We knew instantly Jeanette was going to do something great,” says Charlotte of enlisting the straight-talking, Manchester-born author to join Chanel’s literary salon. “But we didn’t realise it would be so sincere, so emotional and so generous.”
Casiraghi also admits to finding Woolf’s work challenging, but over time has come to understand that losing oneself in the Bloomsbury pioneer’s words is perhaps what Virginia intended. “She was more of a poet than a novelist at times,” Charlotte tells Vogue. “There are such extraordinary passages of Virginia Woolf that are pure beauty; you can enjoy them without necessarily understanding every part.”
The works of Flaubert and Baudelaire are the books Casiraghi would take to a desert island, but asking her to choose her most treasured piece of Chanel is of course much harder for the Monégasque model, writer and humanitarian. When pressed, she lands upon a petite blush-coloured leather bag she was gifted as a little girl. “I just love the brightness of this pink forever bag,” she says, smiling. Her Chanel bouclé jackets would be the next thing she would save from a house fire – as well as the piece she would encourage others to invest in, because “it works with everything”.
Charlotte’s fondest memories of Karl Lagerfeld are of the summers she spent holidaying at his house as a teenager with her girlfriends. “It was such a special time, so intimate and fun,” she reflects, before sharing what she admires about his successor, Virginie Viard. “Her integrity and honesty is extremely precious; she doesn’t try too hard,” asserts Casiraghi. “Virginie has such a knowledge of the brand, but at the same time she is herself and she doesn’t do anything in order to impress anyone.”
For Casiraghi – who has previously said that it’s almost as if she was born with Chanel, but was officially made an ambassador in 2020 – a Chanel woman is defined by the way she holds herself. “She has this perfect balance between masculine and feminine,” muses Charlotte, who pulls off pearls and tweed with the same air of nonchalance.
For all the royal figurehead’s impeccable composure (she is, of course, the grand-daughter of Grace Kelly), and drive (she is also a keen equestrian), Charlotte is a dreamer who loves getting lost in the world of literature Chanel has bestowed on her as part of her ambassadorship. Her main takeaway from the most recent rendez-vous came from Jeanette, who said that “the creative mind is the most precious thing”.
“In a way you can be in the darkest hours of your life, but if you believe that through imagination you can actually open doors and recreate another self or another story, that’s a strong, simple message”. If that’s not enough to make you tune in, we don’t know what is.
