Like so many of its forerunners, the story of the spring/summer 2023 Chanel haute couture collection begins at 31 rue Cambon, Paris—Coco Chanel’s last abode. The apartment on the third floor remains as she left it when she died in 1971: a gilded garden scattered with opulent reliefs and statuary of wildlife. There is the model of a camel on a side-table, bronze deer clustered near the brazier and poignant effigies of lions. It was here, among the entrancing menagerie, that Virginie Viard conferred with set designer Xavier Veilhan and the season’s bestiary themed collection was born.
At the show, models emerged from trap doors in Trojan-horse-like animal structures, clad in the season’s lavish offerings. “I like it when the marvellous bursts forth and the course of events is interrupted,” shares Viard via press notes. Marvellous it was; Veilhan’s monumental, gliding animals supplied the spectacle, while a reverberating keyboard soundtrack signalled drama. But it was the clothes that commandeered attention. All down the middle of look 47’s dreamy column dress, hand-stitched rabbits grazed then gave way to a flouncy skirt of profuse taffeta. A print of sequinned dogs patterned the military style dress of look 38, caught mid-gambol; in movement their leaps acquired life. The bridal look of the finale was adorned with textured swallows.
Backstage, at the close of the show, Viard embraced the people behind the collection. The house’s artisans—feather twisters, silk pleaters, master embroiderers and glove crafters—are the unseen hands behind the magic of the couture runway. Until now. In an unreleased behind the scenes video, Chanel documents the atelier— which still resides at the historic 31 rue Cambon—a day before the show. In the film, artisans are putting the finishing touches on the handcrafted looks. Model Mathilde Henning stands stock still as delicate hands adjust the fine, individually stitched camellias sewn into the waistband of Look 48. With quick, expert touches, the fabric is smoothed over; it has to lay just right on the body. Elsewhere, a seamstress embroiders deer onto a sheath of gauzy fabric; her hands are remarkably steady.
Haute couture is the apotheosis of fashion and elaborate workmanship is its hallmark. The artisans are exacting, parting feathers just so, peering critically over drooping glasses at the intricate pattern on a dress–barely discernible from a distance but strikingly detailed up close. Every last stitch, pleat and fold has been scrutinised by this team; nothing has escaped their touch. They speak lovingly of the work. “Haute couture is imagination. Everyone can have an idea and imagine what they want,” says one. She adds: “The magic is departing from a flat sketch and creating the volume of a dress. It’s like a new birth every time.”
Below, witness the art in exclusive behind the scenes pictures.
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