For the Fall-Winter 2015/16 Haute Couture show Karl Lagerfeld surprised the audience by unveiling his collection in a casino reinvented at the Grand Palais with about 20 international celebrities, all close friends of CHANEL, playing blackjack in Le Cercle Privé.

Haute Couture gowns worn by the celebrities, made especially for the event, are accessorised with re-editions in platinum and diamonds of the first unique “Bijoux de Diamants” collection created by Mademoiselle Chanel in 1932.

Between card games, roulette tables and slot machines, the models with their neo-tomboy plunging bob hairstyles, showcase a very structured and graphic silhouette. Dressed in suits or asymmetric evening dresses, they wear slingback booties with a geometric heel. Black, grey, navy, white, red, gold, mauve, pink and green punctuate the line.

Uniting the traditional expertise of Haute Couture with the latest technologies, Karl Lagerfeld creates a range of 3D suits. Using the “selective laser sintering” technique they come painted, embroidered with beads, lined with satin, embroideries, or braided in leather. The CHANEL jacket is completely reinvented and thrust into a whole new dimension. “The idea was to take the most iconic jacket from the 20th century and turn it into a 21st century version which was technically not possible at the time it was born”, laughs the designer.

The iconic tweed embellishes dresses and suits trimmed with the “new CHANEL braid”, sewn into the continuity of the fabric. This feminine silhouette of a pencil skirt cut just above the knee is teeming with a multitude of masculine details: scoop neck, wide shoulders with buttoned tabs and turned up cuffs draped like a rolled sleeve. Men’s coats are adopting new proportions.

For evening, the line is asymmetric, veering towards the back. It comes swathed in lace, faille, silk, raffia, tulle and organza, duchess satin, taffeta and chiffon, richly adorned with countless applications of feathers, sequinned and beaded embroideries. Silhouettes of superimposed dresses play a game of transparencies. Corkscrew nun pleats, cascades of ruffles in frayed silk tulle and 3D embroidery decorate full-skirted dresses. The bride too appropriates a masculine guise in her white satin tuxedo accompanied by a long embroidered tulle veil.

Thanks to the boundless creativity of Karl Lagerfeld, the CHANEL Fall-Winter 2015/16 Haute Couture collection is a true demonstration of both traditional know-how and high technology.

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