Chanel’s Slow Burn: The Virginie Viard Era
The iconic French fashion maison’s autumn/winter 2022 haute couture collection deftly continues the designer’s deliberate evolution of the house
The spirit of the equestrian world seemed to be on the mind of Chanel’s creative director Virginie Viard this year, at least when it came to her haute couture offerings. Back in January, for the spring/summer 2022 collection she famously sent showjumper Charlotte Casiraghi – the eldest daughter of Princess Caroline of Monaco and the late Grace Kelly’s granddaughter – down a Chanel catwalk that artist Xavier Veilhan had transformed into a showjumping course. Charlotte, a Chanel ambassador, along with her steed Cousco, handled the challenge with ease. Then for Chanel’s Autumn/Winter 2022 couture presentation, Virginie had the who’s-who of the fashion world travel to the Bois de Boulogne forest, to the famed Etrier de Paris equestrian centre, to discover the collection.
Once again she turned to Xavier to create another dramatic set, this time crafted from a panoply of different structures, from sliver sphere mobiles and bullseye targets to giant pink marshmallow-shaped sculptures, or white interlocking oversized hoops. Guests became a part of the displays, interacting with these structures as they walked across the sandy ground of an outdoor corral to make their way into the covered riding arena where the show was to take place.
There, front-row friends of the house like Keira Knightley, Marion Cotillard, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Sigourney Weaver took in the venue, which had been transformed by Xavier into a graphic, colour-block set that represented a modern interpretation of the constructivism age. An era much-beloved by Chanel’s previous designer Karl Lagerfield. But Chanel’s equestrian throughline faded away once the show got underway.
” I thought to myself, ‘I am going to look marvellous in a lot of these’ “
Keira Knightley
It kicked off with a video of the artist Pharrell Williams performing a song he had created especially for the show. One that saw him seated behind a drumset, establishing the pace of the pounding rhythm of the music. It acted as a sort of auditory palate-cleanser before a more symphonic melody filtered into the space, this time created by Virginie’s friend Sébastien Tellier, who along with Xavier, would take a bow hand in hand with the designer at the end of the show.
Then, as the models appeared above the heads of guests before slowly making their way down a wide tiered staircase to the sandy catwalk, the audience finally got a true sense of what sort of vestimentary message Virginie had in mind this season. Kicking things off with something of a surprising first look, a Zoomer-green short boxy jacket and matching long slender green skirt. A choice that immediately got Keira’s attention. “I loved that first green look,” she tells us after the show.
In fact, the whole collection looked very much designed with a woman like Keira (or Virginie for that matter) in mind. “You noticed that too?” the actress exclaims with a laugh. “I thought to myself ‘I am going to look marvellous in a lot of these’.” And she was right.
The lineup was full of long and lean ensembles for day that featured strong shoulders that were given just a touch of softness by crafting a rounded finish to their shape. And while fitted to the body the daywear always telegraphed a sense of easy movement. Noting felt too constricted or unforgiving. The silhouette then relaxed a bit further for the eveningwear offerings. Fuller skirts and dresses came paired with bare-shouldered tops and bell-shaped coat dresses also accentuated a more rounded frame. And everything featured the impressive craftsmanship that the house’s petite mains produce for each couture show. From some shimmering green leaves embroidered onto a youthful white dress or the subtle interlocking Cs that had been woven into the tweed of a beige coat, to the understated luxury of a classic long black tweed coat that was cut open at the back to let the lining of plumes of ostrich feathers billow out as the model strode the catwalk in cowboy boots – the outfits were an impressive display of artisanal craftsmanship.
“I love Virginie, I have always loved Virginie,” pronounces Keria in a post-show debrief with us. “She was Karl’s right-hand woman for so many years. And I can’t tell you how happy I was when they announced she was going to take over because there could be nobody better to continue that legacy. With this collection, you’ve got this idea of constructivism, which is something that Karl was so obsessed with again and again. So you can see her taking the things that he was previously interested in, and what Coco Chanel was interested in, and think about them in new ways to take that conversation forward,” says the actress who has been a face of Chanel for over 15 years.
“I love Virginie, I have always loved Virginie”
Keira Knightley
It’s also worth noting how seamlessly pieces from the new 1932 Chanel high jewellery collection were woven into the different ensembles in the show. An impressive comet broach was worn like a necktie over one fitted suit jacket. While another crafted from yellow diamonds shaped like a golden sun was used as the only fastening, at the navel, on a black velvet jacket that left a wide swath of the model’s skin elegantly exposed. The way these gems were used in the show underlines how Virginie prefers to walk a more understated and graceful sartorial path at Chanel.
There is no denying that she has brought a feminine wearability to her creations for the house. But along with that the designer’s ensembles also feel less rushed, or rather more unaffected by the pull of the tides of fashion itself. She seems to prefer to explore the quieter designer eddies. Places where she can spend her time intensely examining particular elements of fashion that she finds have depths that need to be explored over more than just a single season. Virginie, it appears, is in no rush. And after spending decades of her professional life at Chanel, the house also looks to be more than willing to give her all the time she requires to tell its story at her own – “outrageously beautiful,” as Keira puts it – pace.