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Selling Number 5
PARIS, October 8 - The Chanel show on Friday morning was ground zero of a strange polemic after the house mandated that photographers wear black suits, white shirts and ties to be admitted. It turns out that Nicole Kidman, whose contract to star in a new publicity film for Chanel No. 5 (said to be worth 7.5 million Euros), was at the heart of the matter. Australian producer Baz Luhrman intended to include clips of the show, including the pit, in the montage.
The trouble is that most photographers don't even own a suit, let alone a black one, and the dress code being imposed upon them seemed rightly unfair, especially given that some of world's leading fashion critics are among the worst dressed people on the planet. They called for a boycott.
Chanel, like most houses, depends on images to transmit the whiff of allure to a worldwide audience, and so as the dispute went to arbitration, Karl Lagerfeld threw a soirée for Nicole Tuesday at his 18th century palace on Rue de l'Université.
But by the time Karl took his victory lap on the red carpet runway Friday, along with Ms. Kidman, and boyishly blonde Mr. Luhrman, he'd long since put the controversy to rest. The sumptuous mega-collection would be hard to criticize.
Linda Evangelista took a turn in a contemporary tweed jacket worn with slick black leather pants, a white blouse and a tie falling open à la Dior Homme. For Naomi Campbell, it was a wispy ankle-length dress in a print that could have rivaled an abstract canvass by Klimt. Eva Herzigova appeared in an exquisite black evening gown, lace inserted below the bodice and along the front panel of the skirt. Alek Wek and the supermodels kept coming.
Jet beads ornamented with camellias, classically cut suits and understated eveningwear certainly caught the spirit of Mademoiselle, but to say that the collection was simply old hat (No. 5 was first launched in 1921) would be simplistic. Split lamé skirts, the sleek elegance of a gray body suit topped with ribbed knickers fringed with crocheted trim, and the cool modernity that ran through the bead frame of a silk cocktail dress prove otherwise. Karl's ingenuity at renewing the label season after season is nothing short of remarkable.
When all was said and done, some tolerance was shown towards photographers (one or two got in with jean jackets or black T-shirts). Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, the daughter of blacksmith from the Basque, who became a millionaire after her clairvoyant foresaw the number 5 in a crystal ball, might just have laughed at all the brouhaha.
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