Drawing from Past and Present, Virginie Viard’s CHANEL is Capturing the Maison’s Timeless Allure 

In a world where we can reveal everything about ourselves through posts and captions, video clips and vlogs, it’s often what’s left unsaid that is most compelling. Style exists in the mystery of such unspoken forms of expression. It is a kind of currency that cannot be traded for something tangible, but instead has value at a more conceptual level. It is visual but cannot be touched, only captured by the click and the flash of a camera’s shutter button. Style moves, and it moves us, and that movement has always been the allure of CHANEL. It’s the vibrant thread through each collection from the maison’s inception under Gabrielle Chanel until now, over a century later, under the creative direction of Virginie Viard.

Emma wears 2020/21 Métiers d’art collection, CHANEL. Hilal wears Spring-Summer 2021 Ready-to- Wear collection, CHANEL. Photo: Zeb Daemen

“Every woman has her own style. The magic of CHANEL works for every one of them. The House is so rich in history, across eras, from the 1920s to the 1980s and 90s, which I am equally fond of,” Viard says. “The possibilities are infinite; I love playing with the codes, from tweed, an extraordinary fabric, to borrowing from the masculine wardrobe, and taking on icons such as the CHANEL jacket. We can endlessly reinvent and reinterpret our heritage. We always have to keep moving forward.”

Fall-Winter 2020/21 Ready-to-Wear collection, CHANEL. Photo: Zeb Daemen

In recent collections, that playfulness has materialized in a number of principle pieces that embody CHANEL’s journey through time, and its unique ability to create garments that contain multiple truths at once: Dark mousseline fabrics that evoke the mystery of the night are adorned with feathers, sequins, and heels, each embellishment a quiet nod to Viard’s fascination with French New Wave…