Paris - RTW SS13 - Chanel

City: Paris
Season: Ready-To-Wear, Spring/Summer 2013
Show: Chanel

Now don’t get me wrong, I love Chanel. I love the tweeds, I love the generous use of monochrome, I love the lavish set design and whatnot. But Uncle Karl has been having an unsure run of late - I’m still shaking my head at Resort 2013’s pink wigs and Marie-Antoinette fiasco - and, while Spring/Summer 2013 is by no means a bad collection it simply pales in comparison to Lagerfeld’s two previous spring outings. Remember Spring/Summer 2011 with its magnificent ornamental garden and eye-wateringly gorgeous separates? Or Spring/Summer 2012’s astonishing underwater-themed display, complete with Florence Welch emerging from a giant clam? Both collections are etched in my brain as the kind to beat. For Spring/Summer 2013 the Grand Palais was transformed into a giant wind farm (???) with mock solar panels demarcating the runway. For a fashion house so synonymous with luxury and excess, however, the whole ‘renewable energy’ motif rings a little false, in my eyes at least. The clothes were a mixed bag, ranging from classic Chanel elegance - see Jamie Bochert’s column dress (centre) - to some frightful denim confections worn by the nevertheless lovely Cara Delevingne and Juliana Schurig, looks that I have opted not to post because the combination of Chanel and denim is one that just doesn’t sit well with me, and I imagine that Mademoiselle Chanel would agree. Yet in spite of the collection’s sporadic nature there are a handful of pieces that I am desperately coveting (with a total of eighty looks there would have to be something very wrong otherwise) and I have collected these above.

This piece was originally published on alisonlaurabell.tumblr.com in October 2012.