Paris Fashion Week: Chanel hits the mean streets
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On the runway at Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld went from the spring-summer show’s manicured gardens, to the mean streets, steaming asphalt and all.
With the Cure’s ‘The Forest’ on the soundtrack, Stella Tennant set the tone for the glam grunge collection, opening the show in a terrific-looking salt n’ pepper boucle cape over a red cardigan, black silk crepe leggings and biker boots.
The silhouette was relaxed, schlumpy even, which meant loose-fitting jeans with houndstooth cuffs, or distressed leggings, under Chanel’s signature boxy houndstooth jackets or long, chunky knit cardigans.
Trousers were rolled up over low-heeled black satin pumps (which made me want to start rolling up my own pants immediately). They were worn with cropped cardigans over long blazers, for a cool layered look.
Continuing down the rough road, sweater knit dresses had a gravelly texture, and black leather-and-lace jumpsuits a certain mademoiselle-meets-mechanic appeal.
If there was a weak link it was eveningwear, which didn’t play much of a part in Lagerfeld’s post-apocalyptic vision, except for a few short dresses in graying leaf prints, with puffy short sleeves.
The new bag was a tougher version of the 2.55, sans quilting, and with a chunkier chain. And fans of Chanel cosmetics will be interested to know that the new nail polish shade for fall is a metallic gray called ‘Granite.’
-- Booth Moore in Paris
PHOTOS:
Chanel fall-winter 2011 runway collection photo gallery
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