Chanel returned to the Grand Palais – scene of the late Karl Lagerfeld's most legendary triumphs – for the first time in four years Tuesday (Oct 1) without a designer but still able to ruffle feathers with its birdcage-themed Paris Fashion Week show. The famed French house turned the refurbished Belle Epoque edifice into a giant aviary, with a white birdcage at its centre to show off a collection festooned with plumes and feathers. Only a day earlier British designer Stella McCartney had lamented the "billions of birds killed for the fashion industry", after the animal rights campaigner's own bird-themed Paris show.
But there were plumes aplenty at Chanel – a favourite of its founder Gabrielle Chanel – as it celebrated her fascination with birds and flight. Read more: 'Billions of birds killed': Stella McCartney calls for fashion world to change The cage in the centre of the glass and steel nave was also a nod to Chanel's iconic bird on a swing advert from 1992 starring French singer Vanessa Paradis and her black tail feathers. Elvis Presley's granddaughter Riley Keough sat on the swing to sing this time.
Paradis sat in the front row along with K-pop singer Jennie Kim and Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong'o. With the main entrance of the Grand Palais now bearing Gabrielle's name as a part of a 30-million-euro (approximately RM138mil) deal to stage its shows at the Paris landmark, the brand wanted to plant a flag during uncertain times. No rush for new designer Without .