Bal Harbour

56 BAL HARBOUR MAY 2024 SPECIAL EDITION P H OTO G R A P H Y © C H A N E L materials that composed every garment. They knew how precious each component was, and just how rare and specific its source could be. To buy luxury is one thing—to understand why something is exquisite enough to be a luxury is something else. As Métiers d'art became a tradition, it developed its own person- ality and cadence. The show is often more nostalgic than the other collections but at the same time more focused, honing in on one material or place, which then in turn generates an image and then a world. This certainly was the case this year, which returned to a material that Chanel is synonymous with: tweed. When we think of t weed and Chanel, a skir t set by Gabrielle Chanel immediately comes to mind. And it is the pervasiveness of this ima ge that Viard wanted to play w ith by ret urning to the homeland of t weed: the United K ingdom, the bir thplace of the ladies who lunch and punk. Viard landed on Manchester, a cit y litera lly v ibrating w ith music histor y. Both of those references make it into Viard's cheeky capsule as sherbet-colored tweeds and rule-flaunting hemlines, which as usual play ver y nice with the ubiquitous good taste of Mary Janes. The resulting final looks feel nostalgic, but only a little bit, as if still savoring the final sweetness of last night's dream. "I thought a lot about Gabrielle Chanel, but I didn't want to recre- ate Coco's look," says Viard about the Manchester show. "Instead, I took my cue from the Coco who brought color to her tweeds. I added a vibrant, pop spirit to them." With just the slightest perfume of the '60s on its tong ue, the 2023/24 Métiers d'art collection situates itself in the long heritage of tweed and its importance in defining a century-long love a•air be- tween Chanel, the UK, and the world at large. Rather than commit- ting to just one fashion touchpoint within this extensive lineage, Viard marries them all, constructing a timeless wardrobe that tells the story of a heritage material through the ages. In doing so, Viard also tattles on her own sources of inspiration: To her, Manchester is a "city of music," a place that "incites creation." Music is rarely something we think about when it comes to Chanel, and yet it is one of the threads that connect the di•erent generations of the house together. Lagerfeld might have been more of a classics guy, as he showed us all at the 2017 Métiers d'art show held at the Elbphilharmonie concert hall in his native Hamburg, but Viard appreciates the spirit of rock bands like Joy Division, New Order, and The Smiths, who put Manchester on the global map; using their history, she makes room for her own at Chanel. One can see the special legacy that Métiers d'art has created for the house with its attention to place. Not only has the annual show exposed what makes the world of couture so special, it has become a vehicle for reestablishing an intimate perspective in fashion, for designers, lovers, and makers alike. FROM TOP Backstage, models show off their colorful tweed looks; below, Viard at the 2022/23 Métiers d'art show in Dakar, Senegal. " MÉTIERS D'ART WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT A HOUSE HAD PULLED BACK THE CURTAIN AND SHONE A LIGHT ON THE INNER WORKINGS OF THE ATELIER... PROVENANCE BECAME SYNONYMOUS WITH LUXURY. "

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