Miuccia Prada brought Hollywood actors to her Paris Fashion Week show. Chanel’s design team triumphed even without a creative director, and the most coveted job in fashion is still vacant – but not for long.
At the Downing St party celebrating London Fashion Week last month, Leena Nair, the British CEO of Chanel, made it clear to a fellow journalist and me that she would take her time finding the perfect fit for the top creative job there, which has been vacant since Virginie Viard left in June.
Wise move. This is arguably the most sought-after design gig in the fashion firmament. That’s partly down to the mystique and prestige still attached to the brand, but also because, unlike other proprietors, the Wertheimer family – who have been involved with Chanel since the 1920s – prize stability and continuity.
This could be a job for life. Karl Lagerfeld reigned there for four decades until he died in 2019, cocooned in a deal of unparalleled generosity that also allowed him the freedom to work simultaneously for other labels, including Fendi.
Besides, constant speculation about who will eventually be anointed the next ruler there is all grist to the publicity mill. Current rumours have Jonathan Anderson, the avant-garde Northern Irish designer behind Loewe and JW Anderson, as a front-runner and Simon Porte Jacquemus, the French designer with his own label and genius for creating fashion “moments”, as a wild card.
Then there is Hedi Slimane, whose latest collection for Celine (presented to select journalists in the company’s St Germain des Pres showroom rather than a catwalk) is such a fabulously chic, sharp, monochromatic stripped-back-of-Chanel gimmicks take on Chanel, he may well have a direct line of communication with Coco Chanel herself.
Chanel’s design team excelled
As for Chanel’s own show, which took place in the newly restored Grand Palais – without a named designer – the studio team did a perfectly fine job.
More than fine. If you like that classic Chanel pastel tweed vibe, there was a lot here to like, including knee-length A-line skirts (plus shorts and tweed trousers, which are excellent for adding pounds to your thighs but might just be offset by the enormous, clumpy platform brogues).
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There was monochrome too – and along with the tweed, floaty pastel and floral chiffon separates that were too sickly for my taste.
Then it was on to black evening wear which is lacy and semi-sheer (no doubt they come with slips) or more casual, or at least Chanel’s idea of casual, which is black jeans and a feathered twinset.
There were a lot of feathers in this collection – pity the birds.
On the upside, we also saw a genuine attempt to cast a diverse range of body shapes.
For the finale, Riley Keogh, Elvis’ granddaughter, sang her heart out while sitting on a swing – a bit cheesy, with shades of Magic Mike, but also fun.
Miu Miu’s masterclass in layering (and casting)
Miuccia Prada, meanwhile, prefers an apocalyptic ambience – some do. The setting was a printing press (thank heavens someone believes in the power of print) for a newspaper entitled the Truthless Times. Headlines included “Digital malfunction sparks tempered optimism”.
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This is all by the by, but also revealing of Prada’s state of mind and her yearning for a pre-digital age when millions didn’t get their news from TikTok.
She may love a dark, sombre mood (models do not smile in Prada or Miu Miu shows) but the clothes are a different matter.
Miu Miu has been enjoying a renaissance – and this collection, with its wealth of merchandise, will do nothing to impede that.
Pleated knee-length skirts (Paris’ new favourite length), boxy top-handled bags, neat bomber jackets, sporty parkas, multi-coloured trainers, blazers, geometric patterned, wool trench coats … the list of wearable, yet not remotely boring pieces went on and on.
Jewellery, long gloves and neon “anti-blister” socks are the relatively budget route to the Miu Miu look.
There was precious little body diversity, but Hilary Swank in a covetable chocolate brown trench, Willem Defoe, Alexa Chung and Eliot Sumner (offspring of Sting and Trudie Styler) raised the average age on the catwalk by a decade or two.
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