GUEST POST:Over-sized and eco-friendly: Chanel’s new message

Hi all, hope you had a great weekend. Today I am really excited to share Catherine's work on my blog.

Here is a really interesting article she wrote....do give it a read!! :)

 With the runways of Paris Fashion week cleared for another year, it’s time to

take in the lessons of haute couture from France’s crème de la crème, the

House of Chanel. Set in the exceedingly grand interiors of the Grand Palais,

Chanel’s ready to wear spring/summer collection definitely lived up to its

surroundings by offering a show of epic proportions.

Perhaps one of the most iconic pieces of this year’s entire fashion show was

Chanel’s enormous hula hoop beach bag. This used the simple, traditional

quilted design of classic handbags, but encased it in two hula hoop handles

large enough to make you rethink taking the bus!

“It’s for the beach”, Lagerfeld explained to reporters after the show. “You need

space for the beach towel, huh? And then you can put it into the sand and

hang things on it.”

It wasn’t just the beach bag that was over-sized in Karl Lagerfeld’s collection:

there were enormous pearls, wide stretching sun hats and 19-metre high

wind turbines. Yes, 19-metre high wind turbines; Chanel, along with other

top fashion houses, is on a drive to promote sustainability and eco-friendly

fashion on the catwalk and red carpet. The runway itself was installed with

solar panel grids and 13 huge revolving wind turbines. Models wore dresses

with solar panel motifs, and the pearls worn around their necks were not the

white pearls synonymous with House Chanel, but silver to represent beads of

mercury from a shattered thermometer.

Sustainability of the planet aside, the consensus is that Lagerfeld boldly

showcased the simple elegance of the brand imparted to him, keeping close

Coco Chanel’s own mantra that ‘simplicity is the keynote of elegance’. From

its origins as a millinery shop, opened by Coco Chanel in 1909, to ‘the Chanel

suit’ and the ‘little black dress’, the Chanel brand has its own historic success

story to tell. If Paris is anything to go by, that story is very much far from over.