Chanel Cruise 2021/2022 Sends Its Love To Jean Cocteau

It’s always a dreamy set whenever it’s a Chanel runway, starting from the designs on to the whole vibe. For the French house’s Cruise 2021 collection, creative director Virginie Viard took us through time to a chic baroque era and we just can’t take our eyes off of the set.

Virginie Viard drew her inspiration from the French poet, filmmaker, novelist, and designer Jean Cocteau for Chanel Cruise 2021/22 collection: "Because Gabrielle Chanel was close to Cocteau, and I love the film Testament of Orpheus”. In particular, Viard loves the scene where a man with a black horse's head descends into the Carrières de Lumières, his silhouette cut out against the white walls. And yes, she recreated it, only with a few fashionable changes.

According to her, the simplicity, the precision and the poetry of Cocteau's film made her want to create a very clean collection, with a very distinct two-tone, made up of bright white and deep black. And to present her creations, she chose the Carrières de Lumières, in Les Baux-de-Provence, perfect to capture and reflect the light, so loved by Cocteau and Chanel.

We loved the contrasts we spotted between the radiant whiteness of a long shirt-dress and black macramé capes, between a white tweed jacket embroidered with lucky charms and a black dress in velvet and leather. 

“Echoing the extreme modernity of Cocteau's film, I wanted something quite rock. Lots of fringes, in leather, beads and sequins, t-shirts bearing the face of the model Lola Nicon like a rock star, worn with tweed suits trimmed with wide braids, and pointed silver Mary-Janes”. Says Virginie.

So, did you feel the sixties and the punk vibes with a modern touch? It was in Gabrielle Chanel's recently restored apartment at 31 rue Cambon that Inez & Vinoodh photographed six outfits for the collection’s campaign. It was there that the iconic Gabrielle Chanel housed her favorite pieces, symbols of the house. It was also in this apartment that she received her close friends, including Jean Cocteau.

"Ultimately, through her friendships, it is Chanel, the woman, that I love more and more: her life gives us access to characters just as extraordinary as herself”. Ends the creative director.

Casual and Sophisticated

Inez & Vinoodh have put six silhouettes at the heart of a film and a series of magnetic shots. In front of the Dutch photographic duo’s camera, the model Lola Nicon moves through Gabrielle Chanel’s legendary apartment at 31 rue Cambon, in Paris, surrounded by the designer’s bestiary and her symbols. Lola Nicon embodies an irreverent punk heroine, languishing on the famous beige suede sofa in the salon or posing nonchalantly in the baroque décor of the dining room and study. A casual and sophisticated allure, contrasting with the intimate universe of the designer.