chanel - spring 2007

I was looking around online earlier today and realized that I hadn't seen Chanel's collection. Now I know that most of the time Karl Lagerfeld's work for Chanel pretty much defies critique. I mean, I think that he sometimes misses the mark in his personal collections, but when it comes to Chanel he always seems to turn out such sophisticated work.

Somehow he takes that classically stuffy Coco Chanel aesthetic, and pushes it forward - this time around, to a very young and urban place. I must say that when I first looked through the collection I found it to be almost too young - but I think that if you remove those crinkly, washed out denim pieces toward the beginning, the entire collection gets a needed boost.

As always, Style.com turned in a favorable review -

With perfect pitch, Karl Lagerfeld dashed off yet another virtuoso demonstration of how to play up and down the classic Chanel scale in tune with any season.

It was up-tempo, light and girly, with a cute opening device: a bouncy parade of girls in standard-issue white cotton cabine coats swinging along, attracting all attention to stacks of gold cuffs, link bracelets, chain-and-pearl necklaces, and plastic-Lucite-and-glitter wedges and platforms.

The segue into the short, A-line, and fluttery was carried off, sans effort, via breezy white flared tops over little black skirts, with a trill on the abbreviated white tucked-front shirtdress, and a high-note from a gold-quilted chain bag.

Then the clever bit: What on earth to do with the old, potentially heavy-wash-cloth Chanel tweeds in such a mood?

Why, put them with black sequin short shorts—thus chiming with the leggy forties showgirl theme of the moment—and shoot sparkle through the borders of the bouclé.

Instead of the multitudinous flocks of options he has sent out in the last few seasons, this single-file presentational march condensed everything that can be thoroughly Chanel, yet completely du jour.

While he was at it, Lagerfeld also dashed off sporty striped T-shirt dresses, tulle-covered denim, Edie Sedgwick, metallic-scuba, and puffy Empire organza moments, but mostly it was all about those newly wantable accessories.

Black leather quilted mini bags, smothered with biker-like metal logo badges, were the final ta-da. In other words, a hit.

Something that I noticed, and that I found quite interesting, is the detail on a few of his pieces. The beading that was scattered along the midsection and bodice of several garments, was, when looked at in detail, little pills.

I thought that was a bit of a surprise, but if I were to hedge a bet I would say that Karl Lagerfeld was attempting to make some kind of a statement. Whether or not that statement was meant to be political in that classically bitchy Lagerfeld way, or just a touch of whimsy - who knows.