Chanel SS21: The Simple Cool Girl

“I was thinking about actresses at the photocall, on the red carpet, that moment when they’re being called to by the photographers: their faces a little distracted, their attitude a little out of sync with the outfits they’re wearing. And then there are the fans waiting for them behind the barriers, this very lively side to cinema that happens beyond cinema, that’s what I like,” Says Creative Director of the iconic Chanel house Virginie Viard

She wanted to be “very joyful, colorful and very vibrant”, and that’s how the collection at Chanel was today, a cool yet chic collection, full of a new Chanel vibe.

We never thought Chanel’s show, the one that has forever been the highlight and excitement of the Parish Fashion Week, would be watched from home.

The Setup

The Chanel show set, in Paris’s Grand Palais, spelled the brand’s name in giant letters, evoking the iconic HOLLYWOOD sign in the Santa Monica mountains.

The Collection

The collection was a tribute to the muses of the house that once Gabrielle Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld dressed. 

So, alongside the iconic specialties of the house, the ecru and black tweed suits, we loved the jeans in fluorescent colors, fluid dresses and t-shirts printed with the letters of CHANEL like neon-lights, pale pink capri pants, long dresses printed with little flowers in black and white, or in an ultra-fine tweed, outfits embroidered with sequins, bermuda short suits and layers of asymmetry…

The silhouettes, staged in the collection press kit, each one of them comes in four recurring cinematic situations: on the telephone, looking out of the window, sitting on a bed or walking down the street, just like scenes from a film. An evocation of the Nouvelle Vague, of Italian cinema and of Hollywood. “Because the world of Chanel evokes so many images, a whole unconscious that’s linked to cinema” concludes Virginie Viard.