Shanghai got Christmas a little early this year. And instead of Santa, they got Uncle Karl.
Lagerfeld brought the Chanel Métier D’Arts collection to China for Pre-Fall 2010.
The House of Chanel has collaborated with just over a handful of ateliers made up of artisans + skilled craftsmen and women for dozens of years.
With the decline of haute couture demand in the last decade or so, those ateliers were at risk of going bankrupt.
Chanel acquired them in 2002 and has honoured them with the Métier D’Arts or ‘work of the hands’ collection for Chanel each year since.
Scene: a backdrop of the Shanghai skyline, visible through a translucent wall; a runway, along the Huangpu River.
Players: the International jet set – models, editors and the uber consumerati.
Dialogue: a reference guide of chinoiserie – black lacquer, red opium, pagodas, the Imperial Courts; a vocabulary of quilting, embroidery, silks, beading and brocades.
Photos courtesy of WWD.
