Closing up Paris Fashion Week, the French house of Chanel presented its Spring-Summer 2022 Ready-to-Wear line inspired by photography and the 80s. Truthful to the Maison’s roots, Virginie Viard introduced a romantic yet modern collection through the lens of a photographic campaign together with the runway show. Check this out!

Inspired by the art of fashion photography, Chanel introduced its Spring-Summer 2022 Ready-to-Wear collection reminiscent of the beauty of the years 1980. Last Tuesday, October 5th, the high-fashion French Maison wrapped up Paris Fashion Week at the Grand Palais Éphémère, with a collection rooted in its traditional heritage. Creative Director Virginie Viard continues paying tribute to the long legacy of Karl Lagerfeld, who debuted in the brand in 1983 and who used to photograph so many of Chanel’s campaigns himself.

Besides the runway show, Chanel presented a teaser and a campaign captured by Inez & Vinoodh, who beautifully registered the magic of fashion translating emotions and memories, in “Chanel Or Nothing”. With five short films starring Alma Jodorowsky, Jennie, Lily-Rose Depp, Rebecca Dayan, and Quannah Chasinghorse-Potts, as well as portraits of them in the same pose, holding a camera to their faces, the main idea was to picture those women as both photographers and fashion muses. Under the same scope, the black-and-white teaser has model Vivienne Rohner playing the roles of photographer and Chanel muse, to give a first glimpse of what inspired this iconic Spring-Summer 2022 line.

To Viard, “fashion is about clothes, models, and photographers”, and as she used to love “the sound of flashbulbs going off at the shows in the eighties, when the models were on a raised runway”, she decided to “recapture that emotion” and use it as the starting point behind this collection. For this show, the French fashion designer, who has been directing Chanel since 2019, revisited the brand’s archives of the late 80s and early 90s, times when fashion runways were filled with personality, glamour, and sensuality. With a nostalgic soundtrack, including “Freedom ‘90” from George Michael, models walked an elevated, 80s-inspired runway acting as if they were having the time of their lives, twirling, flipping their hair, and posing for pictures.

The collection, which had a romantic yet mysterious and modern appeal to it, began with simple swimwear pieces in black and white, adorned by chain belts, maxi sunglasses, double C necklaces, and classic quilted bags topped by larger shopping bags, just the perfect combination for a day on a fancy European beach. Following up, sheer, shiny sequined and tailored garments appeared, in jackets and sets matched to golden tops, always heavily accessorized by jewelry articles. The show then diverged into patchworked denim and crochet dresses that added a flowy summery mood, followed by a set of striped pieces and colourful tweeds, mostly in pastel tones of yellow, pink, and purple. There were also some touches of gray and blue, some plaid tweeds, interlocking C’s printed to knits, and butterfly prints over black chiffon fabric closing the show. Accessories were carefully picked to highlight the 80s vibe, with heart-shaped bags, big earrings, neon acrylic jewelry, heavily chained belts, oversized sunglasses, logo-mania everywhere, chunky gold necklaces layered together, strappy logo printed block-heeled sandals, two-tone buckled classic Mary-Janes, and ballet slippers.

Overall, the show had a sense of practicality, with comfortable and simple pieces over-accessorized to fit the 80s aesthetics. Viard has received both compliments and critics for her work with Chanel, and with this collection things certainly won’t be any different. What are your thoughts on Chanel’s Spring-Summer 2022 Ready-to-Wear? 

Published by HOLR Magazine.