Photograph: Courtesy of Chanel
It is true that, since she took the helm of Chanel in 2019, I’ve usually discovered Virginie Viard’s work to be… as an example, “uneven.” For each high fashion excessive, there is a ready-to-wear low; for each chic Métiers d’Artwork piece of handiwork, there is a bafflingly disjointed business providing.
However in the end, I need Viard to be successful — which, in response to Chanel President Bruno Pavlosky, she is (no less than at retail). It is refreshing to see a lady in control of one in all vogue’s largest luxurious manufacturers, and she or he does have an understanding of what is truly wearable for ladies, even when often these concepts get muddled. So it is an actual deal with to see a runway from Viard which exhibits off the sorts of designs she does greatest, as is the case for Spring 2022 Haute Couture.
Photograph: Courtesy of Chanel
Home ambassador Charlotte Casiraghi opened the present on horseback, a request from artist Xavier Veilhan, who dealt with the set design. “His references to constructivism remind me of these of Karl Lagerfeld; I like this similarity of spirit between us, now and throughout time,” Viard mentioned in a launch. “Along with creating the present décor with its references to the avant-gardes of the Nineteen Twenties and Thirties, Xavier needed to work with Charlotte Casiraghi. His inventive universe is stuffed with horses and Charlotte is a talented rider.”
Veilhan’s set design made Viard really feel “very free” and impressed her personal work, the designer mentioned: “These geometric shapes made me need contrasts, an incredible lightness and lots of freshness: ethereal clothes that float as if suspended. Plenty of flounces, fringes, macramé, shiny lace, iridescent tweeds, colourful jeweled buttons.”
Normally, Viard appears to do her greatest work within the couture collections, wherein she makes an attempt the fewest thematic methods. Right here, there’s streamlined tweed suiting, which truly works effectively with the sort of unfastened, wide-legged pant Viard prefers, because of jackets with barely nipped-in waists. Her full-length jackets proceed to be a dream of chic proportions, they usually work equally effectively when cropped up right into a minidress format. Many of the eveningwear is a win (apart from a number of midriff-baring items in a sheer black chiffon); the stability of formless to flattering has been recalibrated, greatest proven in a black and inexperienced lace gown, a sequined slipdress type with feathers on the bodice and a white silk gown with a jeweled halter neck.
Photograph: Courtesy of Chanel
Viard’s weak spot continues to be in equipment: Although not an enormous element of high fashion, the footwear being highlighted this season — “two-tone Mary-Janes with heels impressed by the Nineteen Twenties revisited by way of the Nineteen Eighties” — really feel incongruous and clunky. (I ought to say right here, too, that I am notably baffled by the selection to have a handful of fashions sporting a hoop of eye shadow that, at first look, positively seem like black eyes; intentional or in any other case, it was distracting and admittedly a bit of disturbing.)
Whereas Chanel the model is rattling close to infallible, rumblings on social media recommend that buyers could have their limits relating to its worth propositions. There was the now-infamous Vacation 2021 introduction calendar mishap, which went viral on TikTok; and eyebrows have been raised on the degree of worth will increase on Chanel’s basic kinds (some have been hiked up as a lot as 60% since Nov. 2019), mixed with the extra restrictions positioned on buying capabilities. (Chanel is transferring in the direction of Hermès-like controls on particular person shopping for limits.) Clients are questioning whether or not they’re getting the type of high quality which could justify the in any other case eye-watering worth tags.
None of that, after all, is in Viard’s management, however she would not work in a vacuum. The posh panorama generally has turn out to be extremely difficult, and up to date pushback signifies that not even a model like Chanel can relaxation on its title alone. It is a important second for each label, Chanel included. If she will be able to proceed to refine her most popular silhouettes and hone her imaginative and prescient — and, maybe, take into account making some modifications within the styling and equipment departments for ready-to-wear — Viard’s designs may play an important position in taking the home the place it needs to go. (No strain.)
See the whole Chanel Haute Couture Spring 2022 assortment within the gallery beneath:
Need the most recent vogue business information first? Join our each day e-newsletter.