If Chanel wanted a real taste of Manchester for its Métiers d’Art event last night, the city duly obliged with a downpour of rain.
Some of those gathered around the Northern Quarter may have seen some wrapped up (in Chanel) celebrities, including Kristen Stewart, Hugh Grant, Tilda Swinton and Sofia Coppola, who has created its brand films. The latest of which was released this morning in an live stream, to show what happened beneath the “Chanel Tunnel”:
Chanel stated that it had chosen Manchester because it is “one of the most effervescent cities of pop culture and an avant-garde one, whose bands, spanning all genres, have changed the history of music.”
The President of Chanel also explained that they wanted to do something outside of London, and that Manchester music and art inspired the brand’s Creative Director, Virginie Viard.
That was reflected on the catwalk, with Vogue explaining that it was “dominated by colours that paid subtle homage to Manchester’s football teams.”
It also featured in the playlist of fashion’s go-to music designer, Michel Gaubert, who mixed Electronic and The Fall with AfroDeutsche, with a little visual help from Factory designer, Peter Saville.
The Parisian DJ and producer is fashion’s leading sound director, having worked with the likes of Christian Dior, Valentino, Loewe, Fendi, J.W. Anderson, Proenza Schouler and Sacai. He worked alongside Karl Lagerfeld for almost 30 years.
“I had never thought that one day I would curate a compilation about Manchester for Chanel, with Peter Saville creating the artwork for it,” he said.
Previous Métiers d’Art events have taken place in Paris, Rome, New York and Salzburg. The idea behind them is to celebrate the work of specialist brands and ateliers.
