"I’m a watcher, a voyeur of the times." Karl Lagerfeld in the S/S03 issue of AnOther Magazine.
Visionary designer Karl Lagerfeld has an incredible ability at capturing the mood and feeling of the season in each collection he creates. An incessant observer, for his latest Chanel Metier d’Art 2012 which took place yesterday in the Grand Palais, Lagerfeld transformed the current economic downturn into an opulent array of Indian-themed pieces, "People have always responded to difficulty by dressing up in jewels," he explained.
Launched eight years ago to showcase French craftsmanship, this year’s Chanel "Bombay-Paris" Metier d’Art did not disappoint. As guests sat at the royal set-up of banquet tables, which doubled as a runway and was adorned with gold plated cutlery, candle sticks and chandeliers, King Karl’s models paraded a collection of jewelled coats, gold tweed, silk jodhpurs, bindis, nose rings and strings of pearls. For a collection that consisted of sombre and rich tones, Lagerfeld offered up a highlight colour of pastel and peach-pink across an ankle-grazing dress and bejewelled knit and coat-lining. As Diana Vreeland once said: "Pink is the navy blue of India."
"People have always responded to difficulty by dressing up in jewels"
Despite having never been to India, Lagerfeld’s dip into the exotic Western continent was all about escapism: "It's much more inspiring not to go to places than to go," he declared after the show. "Fantasy is better than reality." With this collection we can definitely all dream.
Text by Lucia Davies
