Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel blockbusters are always a fashion month highlight, and this morning’s *computer-says-oui *catwalk show at the Grand Palais was a spectacle to rival the best of them. Adding his voice to the wearable tech debate, Karl made statements about the future of fashion, about robots and light-up handbags and, perhaps most importantly, about the rainbow wiring goals that your office’s IT department should be striving for next season.
Here’s what you need to know…
The Chanel mega-show was back
Have you tried turning it on and off again? Welcome to #DataCenterChanel, a place where silver motherboards are now chic and colour-coordinated wires climb the walls. Karl recreated the look of a data centre, where models walked between servers and circuit boards as they came down the runway. After last season’s (slightly) more subtle salon concept, the epic Chanel productions are officially back.
The front row was an IT crowd of It-girls
Lily-Rose Depp, Courtney Love and Frances Bean Cobain sat alongside Usher and Roger Federer, all networking on the front row. Chanel favourites Carla Bruni Sarkosy and Ines de la Fressange also joined the pack, with every VIP guest wearing Chanel, naturally.
Chanel bots walked the runway
Models wore robotic masks and gloves – all very Daft Punk – as they walked down the runway. But will we ever adopt them IRL? Saves time on hair and makeup, we suppose.
Karl’s created light-up handbags
So the wearable tech debate just got very, very interesting. After a few other designers have experimented with science lab-look glasses and clever watches, Karl has made his first point in the conversation, creating light up Chanel clutch bags that relayed sweet greetings, plus flashed that iconic double C logo.
Silver is Karl’s colour of the season
Feeling futuristic yet? Take a closer look at those clothes and you’ll notice that bias-cut chiffon dresses were covered with psychedelic-looking electro wave prints, the house tweeds were woven to match the wire colours, and even the label’s classic two-tone flats have been reimagined in metallics. All that’s left to do now is to watch it all go viral, isn’t it?