Chanel dreams up a celebration of the past and present in China

The house of Chanel is still in limbo. It’s been without a creative director since the summer, and all talk in fashion right now is about who will take the role. While the guessing game has been exciting, it shouldn’t take away from the fact that the in-house design team, called the Creative Studio, has been doing a great job in the interim. For Spring 2025, it showed a collection that felt fresh and wearable and totally fun.

Feathers! Neon knits! Embellished jeans!

Chanel needs that kind of frivolity again. It’s a luxury fashion house with a couture business, but ultimately it’s always been rooted in the idea of play, something Karl Lagerfeld knew how to execute better than anyone. Even amidst his show spectacles that brought viewers to airplane hangars, grocery stores, and ski slopes, all staged, his clothes were always about wonder.

Last night in Hangzhou, the Creative Studio showed its Prefall 2025 Métiers d’art collection. It is a celebration of the craftspeople who work in collaboration with the house, like Maison Lesage embroidery atelier and Atelier Lognon, a pleating studio open since 1853. While this is always a time for Chanel to showcase its dedication to working with exquisite artisans, last night felt like another shining moment for the Creative Studio in terms of moving things forward for the brand.

The show was held on the city’s West Lake–a foggy yet serene body of water that was made even more romantic by a runway composed of winding docks and a pianist playing solo on a rounded central stage. Guests like Tilda Swinton, Lupita Nyong’o, Wim Wenders, and Lucy Boynton travelled to their seats via boat, and once the show began, they were swept up further into the ethereal setting by the sounds of traditional drum beats.

There were rich tweed coats in icy blues and shimmery black and skirt suits, some of which were styled with shiny, blossom-printed bodysuits underneath. The rich colours of deep blues and metallic blacks recalled the Coromandel screens that served as the starting point for the Creative Studio, as Gabrielle Chanel was an avid collector of these lacquered, intricately painted pieces of Chinese art.

Though the embroideries and knits looked opulent, there was a feeling of ease about this collection, a sort of glamorous nonchalance in the way a pair of jeans was styled with a classic Chanel jacket or a gleaming gold suit was cut loose and cropped. These were couture-level pieces but without a hint of preciousness. They’re beautiful, otherworldly clothes brought down to earth by their wearability and inherent sense of cheeky cool–a winning formula for the label now and for whoever takes Chanel on next.

All images: Courtesy of Chanel 

This article originally appeared in Harper's Bazaar/US on December 03, 2024. 

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