Through Chanel’s Métiers d’art collections, the House celebrates the artisans who craft the collections, and maintain the beauty and thoughtfulness of the brand as it brings together several hundred embroiderers, feather workers, paruriers, goldsmiths, pleaters, shoemakers, hatters and milliners. These creatives sit at the very heart of the Métiers d’art collections, and have done since its debut in 2002.
Bringing to life wearable art pieces, the 2024/25 collection was designed by the House’s studio team (following the departure of creative director Virginie Viard this year), and they’ve stepped forward into Hangzhou’s softly-lit, romantic light as they’ve channelled the vision of Chanel, and its exceptional savoir-faire.
The setting of the show was Hangzhou’s West Lake, a Unesco World Heritage site, and for the evening it embodied the spirit of the House. After all, it’s a cultural hotspot for Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang province, the fresh water lake along with its surrounding hills is the home to temples, pagodas, pavilions, gardens and ornamental trees, as well as causeways and manmade islands; and the setting has proved to be a source of inspiration for artists, poets and scholars since the 9th century.
A romantic location calls to a romantic collection, and presented at nightfall, the 2024/25 Métiers d’art collection drew influence from Gabrielle Chanel’s cherished Coromandel screens–she famously loved these intricately-painted folding screens all her life, and they can be found in her apartment at 31, rue Cambon in Paris to this day. She may not have visited the city, but the Coromandel screen in her office depicts the city of Hangzhou and its legendary lake.
Translating and applying this ornate beauty into a collection, we saw embroidered floral motifs, a clear favourite of Coco’s, along with hues of jade green, pink and sky blue. Each of the silhouettes is exceptionally detailed, some of which are visible, and some are hidden. From phosphorescent braids to long coats in precious signature tweeds and envelope-shaped pockets, the collection is an invitation to a poetic Asian voyage.
In a film starring House ambassadors Tilda Swinton and Xin Zhilei, and recently appointed House ambassador Leah Dou, German filmmaker and author, Wim Wenders imagines a contemporary and idyllic journey through the Coromandel screens that were held so dear to Gabrielle Chanel.
