charlotte casiraghi

Photo: GoRunway.com
Chanel’s spring/summer 2022 haute couture show swept social media thanks to the efforts of Charlotte Casiraghi – muse to the late Karl Lagerfeld – who opened the presentation at the Grand Palais Éphémère on horseback. Vogue fashion critic, Anders Christian Madsen, was in the audience.

A horse opened the show
Photo: Dominique Charriau
By now, it’s the stuff of social media legend: a horse opened the Chanel haute couture show. It was ridden by Charlotte Casiraghi, the show jumper and brand ambassador, who – as the daughter of Princess Caroline of Hanover and granddaughter of Grace Kelly – held a very special place in the heart of Karl Lagerfeld. Casiraghi wore a Chanel riding jacket in black tweed and sequins, heralding a collection founded in unexpected dialogues between materials, spaces and occasions. “The idea for the show’s décor came from a longstanding desire to work with Xavier Veilhan. His references to constructivism remind me of those of Karl Lagerfeld,” Virginie Viard said, referring to the artist best known for his graphic sculpture work. “Xavier wanted to work with Charlotte Casiraghi. His artistic universe is full of horses, and Charlotte is a skilled rider.”
It was a collaborative effort
Photo: Dominique Charriau
The set imagined a surreal show jumping course erected inside the Grand Palais Éphémère, the construction by the Eiffel Tower currently filling in for the Grand Palais while it’s under refurbishment, which will also serve as a venue for the Paris Olympics in 2024. Within it, Veilhan created supersized objects, from stable elements to enormous instruments played by the musician Sébastian Tellier, who has worked with Chanel in the past. “Xavier and Sébastien are friends. Along with Charlotte, they form the kind of Chanel family that I like to surround myself with,” Viard said. She described the set design as a place that made her feel free, and you could see that in the collection. There was an ease and confidence in the way she matched and clashed textures and codes in the same looks, creating a dynamic and liberal wardrobe that literally turned heads.
The collection played with clashes and constructivism
Photo: Dominique Charriau
“Virginie plays with the construction of dresses and how to bring embroideries into them. There is such a big number of people working on these dresses, it makes them quite special. In couture, your imagination can allow you to do these kinds of pieces,” said Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel’s president of fashion. Viard worked with each of Chanel’s specialist embroiderers on the collection, underlining the collaborative premise of the show. The embroideries materialized in geometric shapes mixed and matched across eveningwear. A graphic black and white pattern of a cape collar crowned a floor-length filtrage dress in silver and grey lace. An iridescent sequin-embroidered brassiere descended into a sheer bustier that waterfalled into a transparent tiered skirt with hems that looked like tie-dye. And a translucent dress with a skirt that ballooned over itself was structured from constructivist intarsia shapes.
The daywear game was strong
Photo: Dominique Charriau
In a time when haute couture is often associated with ballgowns and banquets, and more houses are launching or relaunching haute couture collections, hoping to elevate their brand value and get a piece of this highly exclusive cake, Chanel’s attention to daywear stood out. “In the day of Coco Chanel, haute couture was for everyday. It wasn’t just for cocktails and red carpets. I think this is quite important,” Pavlovsky said. “At Chanel, we have two ateliers that focus on tailoring – which is the opposite of flou – and a new generation in training to be able to offer this daywear. The customer can pick pieces for any time of the day. It’s not just incredible dresses. In this collection, we have some daywear silhouettes which are amazing, if I may say so.” He wasn’t just tooting the Chanel horn. Viard’s check tweed skirt suits slit open at the front, with broderie anglaise bursting out from within, and her handsomely sculpted jackets with voluminous trousers were fitting examples of what haute couture can do to daywear.
Chanel is happy with other houses launching haute couture
Photo: Dominique Charriau
Pavlovsky, however, is excited about the current enthusiasm for haute couture. “The more of us there are, the better it is. Haute couture is about Paris, and the more strong designers we can have, the better it is for all of us. To see more and more designers wanting to develop haute couture is the best signal we can have,” he said. “Couture… I don’t want to say it’s ‘no limits’, because it’s not about limits, but it’s the best of today. Virginie offers a collection, which is, for her, the best of what she wants to do. Here, we don’t need to think about how to manufacture, etc. We have one hundred people working in the atelier. We have the Metiers d’Art. It’s a small business with very high-quality customers. We don’t need to explain to everyone that haute couture isn’t the same as ready-to-wear. Ready-to-wear is a business from the ’70s, but Chanel has been doing haute couture since the beginning,” Pavlovsky said.
Read Next: The Best Street Style from the Spring 2022 Couture Shows
Originally published on Vogue.co.uk

Charlotte Casiraghi. Photo: Getty

“It’s almost as if I was born with Chanel,” says Charlotte Casiraghi, in a new video announcing her appointment as an ambassador and spokesperson for the French house as of 1 January 2021. “I think of photos of my mom, when she was pregnant with me, wonderful photos by Karl [Lagerfeld] with her wearing Chanel.”
The Monégasque royal (she is the grand-daughter of Grace Kelly) and talented equestrian was practically wearing tweeds and pearls in the womb, so it’s no surprise Chanel was on hand to outfit her in haute couture for her wedding, in June 2019. “Virginie Viard did the alterations at the fitting, which symbolised Karl passing the baton to Virginie,” she says, of the custom strapless dress she wore to the wedding reception. She is full of admiration for the current creative director of the house: “She has dreamed up ‘a woman on the move’,” she enthuses. “Today’s fashion has this strength of expression, a strength of modernity, and it can move culture forward.”
Casiraghi has been photographed for the spring campaign at La Vigie, Karl Lagerfeld’s former home on a promontory in Monaco, known as “the look out” and beloved by the designer for its privacy. “It’s the safest place in the world,” he told W Magazine in 1988, of the three-storey villa, which he lovingly restored himself. “It’s impossible to get near the place. No public road passes by and you have to go through two gates to get inside. It doesn’t even have an address, so no one can write to me here.”
Casiraghi spent many a happy hour in La Vigie with her mother, Princess Caroline of Monaco, a long-time muse of Lagerfeld, and credits the designer with inspiring her passion for literature. Accordingly, her appointment comes with some hosting duties: she will oversee “les rendez-vouz litteraires rue Cambon” (literary meetings at rue Cambon) bringing together influential female writers and actresses, invited to share their perspectives in a series of digital events inspired by founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s literary salons.
As she readies herself to take on an official role with the house, look back over Charlotte Casiraghi’s most exceptional Chanel looks over the years.

Read Next: Chanel’s Cruise 2020/21 and Holiday Makeup Collections are Made to Lift Your Spirits This Season
Originally published on Vogue.co.uk