Chanel made quite the splash in Sydney yesterday, with a coterie of fashion insiders descending upon the Harbour City for the re-staging of Matthieu Blazy’s resort ’27 collection for the storied French maison. The collection, Blazy’s first resort offering for the house, made its debut in Biarritz, France, back in April.
The occasion marked something of a watershed moment for the Australian fashion scene, with no other luxury house having staged a show of this magnitude on our shores.
In the lead-up to yesterday’s presentations, a modish corner of social media was awash with images of silver, shell-shaped lockets concealing a whale’s tail, which served as the rather whimsical, albeit official, invitations sent to guests earlier in the week.
Adding to the fervour was a litany of playful posts, chief among them one from Beka Gvishiani, the man behind the cult fashion commentary account @stylenotcom, who marked the occasion with one of his signature blue tiles bearing the words “BONJOUR CC-YDNEY”.
The message was clear: Chanel fever had Sydney firmly in its interlocking CC grip.
The first of two presentations took place at 2.30pm on Thursday, with Kylie Minogue taking her rightful place on the front row. A second showing at 6pm welcomed Chanel House Ambassadors Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman.
Although the set design largely mirrored that of the original presentation in April, a distinctly local sensibility was threaded through proceedings, as is customary when Chanel takes its collections on tour.
Take, for instance, the imposing natural sandstone wall of The Cutaway, the cultural venue nestled beneath Barangaroo Reserve that served as the backdrop for the Sydney presentations. Adding another local touch were the numerous ceramic vessels dotted throughout the venue, created by Damion Fuller, a ceramic artist and surfer based on the north coast of New South Wales.
Australian model Julia Nobis opened the show in Look 1, a black, drop-waist shift dress featuring a plunging V-neckline and an intricate interplay of converging white stitching. She was joined by a strong contingent of Australian talent, among them Josephen Akuei, Gemma Ward, Latahlia Hickling, Tarlisa Gaykamangu, Lauren Stevenson and Cindy Rostron.
It was back in 1915 that Gabrielle Chanel established her couture house in Biarritz, on France’s Basque coast. Here, she would help define the carefree elegance of the Chanel woman, drawing inspiration from the seaside town’s effervescent, creative spirit.
This coastal enclave has remained deeply entwined with the house’s history ever since. The late Karl Lagerfeld owned a holiday home there, while Blazy himself has frequented Biarritz since childhood. With its own distinctive marriage of urban cool and coastal culture, Sydney proved a fitting setting for the collection’s second outing, where its nautical motifs and magisterial whimsy were no less impactful.
After all, Blazy’s collections are often brimming with narrative-driven Easter eggs and historical homages, many of which reward a second look. Consider the retro-style swim caps with fin-like constructions he sent down the runway, which not only slotted perfectly into the collection’s seaside narrative but also seemingly nodded to Gabrielle Chanel’s costume designs for Le Train Bleu, a 1924 ballet that reflected contemporary attitudes towards athleticism and fashionable seaside holidays.
Elsewhere, models took to the runway with seashells covering their ears, sporting striped sailor tops, jackets trimmed with colourful, shell-like paillettes and dresses fashioned from netting threaded with gold shells.
A vibrant red dress sashayed down the runway, embroidered with sequins and beads and sculpted to resemble coral. The closing look, a mermaid-like creation also worn by Nobis, featured a fishtail hem and more than 126,000 iridescent, heart-shaped sequins shimmering in shades of blue and green.
And yet, for all the frivolity and fantasy, there were plenty of wearable pieces. A seemingly simple double-denim ensemble, which was in fact entirely embroidered with sequins to create the illusion of denim, could just as easily find its place at dinner with friends.
More casual pieces included a ribbed cotton workwear coat and striped cotton pullovers, proving that even amid Blazy’s most fantastical flights of fancy, there remains an appreciation for the art of everyday dressing.
