La Tour de France de Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel: a union of what-has-become art and fashion. Only Lagerfeld can scheme up such a satire into an 89-lined construction of ever-escalating garments. Chanel’s La Tour de France was held in the grandeur Grand Palais, with its overblown area and overpowering sound system, tuning to Jay-Z’s Picasso Baby for this fashion spectacle. Not only did he showcase his artsy brilliance through the garments, yet he had conceptualize Grand Palais into a modern art gallery de Chanel filled with iconic logos, tweeds and fragrances. It was another unexpected creation of Lagerfeld that had kept the buzz running through the audience and did not leave a single moment of boredom for their presence.
Encapsulating the idea of art and fashion as natural companions allowed him to express through lively-filled-with-color runway, inspired from vintage paint-swatch cards, in order to communicate the thrill and mélange of “his art”. And for that, he exceptionally disregarded eveningwear. Yet still, the strings that he pulled were nevertheless more unexpected than expected. Classic crème boucle tunics revealing silk kilts, paper-thin leather trousers, layers of shrunken sweaters worn with a variation of ombré grays, lavish tweeds, plastic-painted and much more neon palette. And for one, he injected a fresh motifs including wearing to bags at once: tote in graffiti embellishments and ornamented backpacks. Painterly patterns for the youth’s attention in a variety of newly transformed silhouettes and 89 tonal shades of purple, red, grey, pink, grey, black and white. It was a masterpiece of splash for evolutionary and inventive spirit to portray in art in clothing.
The designer has yet again proven to the fashion industry that he is a man of garment creation, but also a vigorous artist, a delicate colorist and a gallery curator. It was an art in commerce witnessed and Lagerfeld inevitably made his point. “For me, it’s like breathing”: indeed, Lagerfeld. (Text Nadilla Sari Ratman)