Lagerfeld reaches for immortality with Chanel Paris show

Legendary designer and bibliophile Karl
Lagerfeld made a pitch for immortality Tuesday by setting his Chanel Paris
haute couture show in front of the Academie Francaise.

The venerable institution, whose members are knowns as “the
immortals”, was
the centrepiece of a spectacular set featuring the banks of the Seine that
Lagerfeld had built inside the Grand Palais in the French capital.

Everything from the bouquinistes booksellers — dressed in Chanel of
course
— with their vintage Vogue magazines and tomes on Chanel, to the Paris
pavements and embankments was recreated in staggeringly realistic detail.
All it lacked to pass for the real thing was the tourist tat and a few
beggars.

A line-up of
closing looks from the Fall-Winter 2018/19 #CHANELHauteCouture collection,
presented earlier today at the Grand Palais in Paris. #CHANELHighProfile
@lovegrace_e @sarahdahll @ansolet_rossouw

A post
shared by
CHANEL (@chanelofficial) on Jul
3, 2018 at 3:45am PDT

At 84, the Kaiser is now too old to be admitted into any of the
academies
housed below the gilded dome of Institut de France which act as the
guardians
of French culture.

Lagerfeld is in fact nearly a decade over the age limit to be a sage,
yet
the German-born designer shows no signs of slowing.

He still designs for Chanel in Paris and Fendi in Rome — even though
of
late he has been a little doddery on his feet.

There was, however, almost a spring in his step on Tuesday as he took
the
bow for a classily restrained autumn winter haute couture collection marked
by
slit dresses and sleeves.

Victorian chic

“Karl is as fresh as a bridegroom,” Conde Nast maven Karina
Dobrotvorskaya
cooed on Instagram over her picture of him with his “bride”, the
traditional
finale of couture shows.

Lagerfeld’s godsons Hudson and Jameson Kroenig — the sons of his
favourite
male model, the square-jawed American Brad Kroenig — were also at his side
after playing the part of riverside booksellers in the show with their
father.

Like the Dior show the previous day, Lagerfeld went for a refined
sobriety
of sharply-cut black and grey slit dresses, worn over short thigh-riding
miniskirts.

Many were lit up by flashes of crystals, feathers and glittery-edged
embroidery, which pointed up the zipped slit arms.

While much of the collection had a revved-up retro late 1940s feel
with
models’ hair styled in cockerel quiffs and some wearing fascinator hats,
there
were also Belle Epoque Victorian flourishes in satin and tulle dresses with
glittery tweed capes and long fingerless gloves.

Haute couture shows — which only take place in Paris — are the
creme de
la creme of fashion.
Thousands of hours of work sometimes goes into the handmade dresses that
can only be afforded by the richest women on the planet.

The label is accorded by the French industry ministry to acknowledge
traditional craftsmanship in hand-sewn, custom-made garments using strict
criteria.

Only 14 fashion houses currently boast the recognition, including
Chanel,
Christian Dior, Giambattista Valli, Givenchy, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Maison
Margiela, Schiaparelli, Alexis Mabille and Stephane Rolland.(AFP)

Photos credit: Alain Jocard / AFP