Kia McClain
Chanel sent 89 looks, in total, down the runway at Paris Fashion Week this year and I wanted nearly everything I saw, in one way or another. Karl Lagerfeld is the only designer that can get away with sending his models down the runway in pumps and errrr… socks! Yes, he did indeed; we even have the close up photos to prove it. Soon it will be time to rip up the list of “fashion no-no’s” as it appears it has become an emerging trend to violate them all. One thing is for certain, Lagerfeld arrived in Paris with the intent of putting on a fashion show that the masses would never forget. Arriving for the show at the Grand Palais was a spectacle in itself. The building was transformed perfectly into a gigantic, white wall art gallery, filled with textured art and sculptures. Janelle Monae found her newest music at the center of yet another spectacular fashion week show as the models proceeded down the runway.
Lagerfeld flexed his fashion muscles to demonstrate his mastery of deconstruction, trompe l’oeil, collage, and bricolage with the collection, which he made to look completely effortless on his part. Call it a hybrid collection as many of the pieces are almost, but not quite, the definition of the words on the tip of your tongue you want to use to describe them. Chanel has certainly opened the door to a new era of fashion that is entirely their own – or Lagerfeld’s I should say, as he designed with the eye of an artist. The intriguing details are what made the collection so notable above others. One can easily miss the high heels and socks as well as the signature Chanel bag peppered throughout the collection, as the clothing grabbed immediate attention and admiration. The eye wants to enjoy every detail from the organized tattered hemlines, to the awesome use of texture. The entire show, from runway set up to fashion, can only be described as brilliant, as the Chanel Spring 2014 RTW collection gave us all permission to be as imaginative as a child again.
