Trust Karl Lagerfeld to rise above the cacophony of questions about the relevance of haute couture. At Chanel, he floated an argument that insouciantly covered the issues and showed what couture can be now: a beautifully thought-out, long-term investment that also addresses our multitasking world. “This is reality couture,” he said, adding, “It’s about duality.”
That meant almost every outfit in the collection was in some way a transformer, as the designer took classic Chanel tweeds and created new ways to switch around a jacket, skirt, coat, and dress. Sometimes a pleated silk button-through shirtwaister or a veil of chiffon was unconventionally layered under a jacket or over a skirt. As always, it was hard to keep up with the deluge of Lagerfeldian transpositions, but the main message was clear. At Chanel, the principle of the daywear suit is alive and kicking, fully up to speed with a modern woman's many changing needs. Which, of course, is just the way Coco saw it in the first place.
That applies as much to night moves as to day necessities. Taking the practical need for an evening “cover-up” as his starting point, Lagerfeld whipped up many finely layered ideas to give dresses a double identity.
A woman could arrive at a party in one silhouette—say, a voluminous tulle Pierrot cape—and leave in the slim lace sheath beneath. What appeared to be a shell-pink evening suit with a long, crystal-studded jacket and fishtail skirt could later be revealed to be a drop-dead cutaway gown. Even a fragile, dainty cocktail mélange of dotted tulle and chantilly might be stripped down to another dress when the evening heats up.
But no one could accuse Lagerfeld of mundane utilitarianism. This collection touched a higher kind of duality, too. Though fully of the twenty-first century, his best pieces—like the restrained black-and-white ensemble worn by Alek Wek—were also timeless Coco-isms: of the moment, yet guaranteed to outlast this and many seasons to come.
