Karl Lagerfeld evokes James Dean in Paris show

A model presents black and white shoes as an accessory to a creation for Chanel by German designer Karl Lagerfeld. Picture / Reuters

PARIS - Chanel's designer Karl Lagerfeld evoked the era of James Dean in his summer collection on Friday, combining the classic Chanel tweed jacket with jeans in the year marking the 50th anniversary of the actor's death.

Lagerfeld put up a sparkling show in the luminous Grand Palais, a glass-topped exhibition hall which opened its doors last month after being closed for repair for an entire decade.

Models wearing jackets with graphic patterns and denim tops streamed out behind a giant pink curtain, which matched the colours of the hundreds of little pink and green umbrellas Chanel had distributed to all guests. Round-brimmed hats were in the spirit of James Dean.

"The Grand Palais is magnificent," Lagerfeld told reporters after the show in the vast glass-and-steel masterpiece built for the 1900 World's Fair.

Robert Burke, senior fashion director at luxury retailer Bergdorf Goodman, said Chanel convinced with its elegant, refined clothes.

"Chanel has a wide breadth of customers, meaning many different ages. That's what Karl's brilliance is -- putting down clothes that appeal to so many generations," he told Reuters.

A model wearing a white long dress with a large black diagonal bow tie on the shoulder and big flowers at the hem walked past illustrious spectators such as Bernadette Chirac, the wife of France's conservative president.

Absent from the front row was scandal-hit British model Kate Moss, one of Chanel's main advertising faces who is normally a guest at the house's shows.

A cloud has hung over the 31-year-old model since a London newspaper alleged that she snorted cocaine.

Sympathy for moss

Moss, the face of Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle perfume since 2002, has been dropped by Britain's Burberry fashion house and the Swedish-based retailer Hennes and Mauritz after the Daily Mirror ran the charge.

Chanel has said it would not renew a contract with Moss when it expired this month but did not comment on whether this was linked to the cocaine scandal.

While the scandal may have cast a pall over Moss and her career, it does not seem likely to tarnish Chanel's image.

"The difference between a luxury brand and a big retailer is that the luxury brand has a very strong identity. She does not symbolise Chanel's values," said Francoise Hernaez Fourrier from TNS Media Intelligence.

Such scandals could be more damaging for large high street retailers, who liked to play with the image their advertising stars currently held in the media, she said.

"In comparison, a luxury brand will use a star as seen in the cinema, it's like the star's stage role," she said.

Lagerfeld has said he felt sorry for the British model.

"Filming the girl was a really nasty trick," Lagerfeld told reporters after the show for his own label -- Lagerfeld Gallery -- on Wednesday, adding no one could prove that Moss had indeed snorted cocaine.

"The girl is not selling her private life, but her image," Lagerfeld said. "What the girl does herself only regards her," the pony-tailed German designer said.

American actress Sharon Stone has also jumped to Moss's rescue after the publication of grainy pictures that allegedly showed her taking cocaine.

"I understand that she has apologised and is changing her life. And I think that that is the most important thing that's happened," said Stone, who was also in Paris for fashion week.

- REUTERS