Karl Lagerfeld had editors attending the Chanel Spring 2016 ready-to-wear show this morning smirking. Come the last leg of the four-city fashion week circuit, the last place anyone wants to be is another airport—unless of course it’s to hop on a flight home, jet off to a Swiss Alps spa, or attend the Chanel show, which was staged in a chic, sterilized terminal of the ephemeral Paris Cambon Airport under the glass dome of the Grand Palais.
The opening collage graphic jackets with blue, white, and red arrows pointing in every direction appeared to emanate that sort of anxious feeling that many travelers get ahead of a long-haul flight. However, they were neatly outlined in a solid stripe, and this helped pull the chaos together. Conservative tweed suits hit the airport floor en masse while cheeky backwards baseball caps (a travel look favored by Lagerfeld’s model muse Cara Delevingne), metallic fingerless gloves, and PVC silver sandals helped to give the somewhat stiff looks a youthful spin. One blue herringbone suit with wide leg trousers and downward turned lapels was a combination to wear to hand over your boarding pass, breeze through a boardroom, or have brunch with the girls.
Lagerfeld then transitioned to midi dresses with pleated skirts. Next, he ruffled things up with long full skirts overlaying pants. This became the show’s signature offering and was showcased in gorgeous, graphic painterly prints—handpainted by Lagerfeld himself. The tapered joggers with all over airplane motifs will be a must for the jet-set and the car pleat flower print suits and dresses were another youthful tailored offering. But the washed denim and PVC pieces lacked the light as air feel of the blue and white chiffon dress with front zip and collar; if only there were more of these breezy frocks in this 94-look collection. As for the light-me-up Velcro sandals and oversized sunset-strip aviators, they came across as gimmicky next to the sophisticated micro-sized double C logo luggage, trolley clutches, and pearl-encrusted spray paint chokers. Like a flight anywhere, Lagerfeld’s Spring ‘16 offering finally arrived, but the journey was at times turbulent.
