HAUTE COUTURE Chanel plays pipes, turning tiny tubes of tulle

Tag : Haute Couture


PARIS : Metallic and majestic, the pipes rose to the glass dome of theGrand Palais with all the graphic weight of the recent RichardSerra exhibition. Yet the installation was not contemporary art butat a Chanel show. Could this be Karl Lagerfeld's commentary on pipe lines ofoil gushing moneyed clients into haute couture?

"Organ pipes," explained the designer, referring to the inspirationthat came to him during a concert and that he had translated, withextraordinary couture skills, into tiny tubes of tulle that shapedthe midriff of a dress, created a silvered tubular sleeve orultimately dangled from a dress like gothic car-wash strips.

Perhaps Lagerfeld should have remembered that not all "piped" musicis a fugue. It also has a reputation for being atonal andsynthetic, which was sadly the effect of many of these superblycrafted dresses. For all the pretty, light-handed elegance of arare pink dress with flattened pipes crossing the bosom, overallthe collection seemed heavy and even weird.

The designer, who has often said that he divides his aestheticbetween his graphic German roots and rococo Parisian lightness, hadflipped to stark geometry for the square, bobbed wigs and courtshoes with Lucite stiletto heels. The effect was charming when anempty square literally framed the face.

The new Chanel suit was a long-sleeved dress, always with thosepipes at the waist, worn with a sleeveless three-quarter coat. Evenwith a dress hem wafting with feathers or a rouleau of fur, theoutfits suggested a chic wardrobe for a mature woman. Some skirtseven hobbled movement.