Snuggle up darlings, this is going to be an utterly fawning recap of the CHANEL HAUTE COUTURE Fall-Winter 2024/25 collection. Unveiled this week during the Paris Couture shows at the legendary Palais Garnier, the collection was downright sublime. The incredible artisans of the CHANEL Fashion Creation Studio created and executed a collection that is the height of Couture. It highlighted all that is magical and exceptional about Haute Couture and the House of CHANEL. The 150 people who work across the six ateliers at 31, rue Cambon that create these pieces of art posses a combination of technical skill, virtuosity, and what I can only assume is magic.
The collection honoured the Palais Garnier itself as well as CHANEL’s deep connection with the arts, particularly ballet and opera. The House is a committed supporter of both the Opéra national de Paris and the Ballet de l’Opéra in their role as a Major Patron in addition to the House’s historic ties to these art forms. Gabrielle Chanel famously created costumes for the Ballets Russes including collaborating with Picasso and Cocteau for Le Train Blue. With these particular reference points, it’s no surprise that this collection is particularly spectacular.
Feathers, tassels, cabochons and embroidered flowers, precious braids, lacquered jersey, supple tweeds, silky velvet, illusion tulle, taffeta and duchesse satin: opulent materials that delicately rustle. The volumes are diaphanous, the sleeves puffed, and the flounces pleated. Richly embroidered, the collection imbues the House codes with a romantic twist. A CHANEL suit with box pleats revisited in burgundy tweed trimmed with white satin, a black corduroy tuxedo and a white blouse with an embroidered plastron, a black suit with a long culotte and a short, fitted jacket with shoulders swathed in black feathers, dance among long coats, voluminous capes and evening gowns, evoking a modernised stage tradition and a certain science of pageantry.
