Paris Fashion Week: CHANEL Autumn Winter 2010

I know it's been an inexcusable ice age since the first Yeti took her perch at the edge of Karl Lagerfeld's giant iceberg at Paris' Grand Palais, but a good post, content the caliber of Chanel, is kind of like purchasing a pair of immaculate shoes from the fashion house itself. That is to say, if you're like me, when you've got something really good, and I mean REALLY good, you kind of squirrel it away in the back of your closet, convincing yourself that said newly acquired treasure must make its debut on the world at just the right event. Of course, the "perfect" first opportunity to whip out and road test a new investment piece for the first time is as elusive as a sunny February day in London and it's best to just strap on the damn Louboutins for a quick run to Sainsbury's to get it over with.

Star studded tip of the iceberg..Grace Coddington, Alexa Chung, Mario Testino and Vanessa Paradis

So it has been with this post. I've put it off, waiting for the Apple Nazis to return my precious MacBook Air which they've been holding hostage since I returned from Paris (the SHAME!), telling myself that, for some reason, I couldn't post Chanel from my piece of crap back up laptop. Then there were annoyances like Easter and other convenient excuses to continue to wait. But given that the press day is tomorrow, and the iron gates of the Regent Street Apple Store are looking no more forthcoming today than they have for the past four weeks, the time has at last come.

So without further ado, let's dive headfirst in to what was, without a doubt, yet again, the colossal culminating moment of my four week long international fashion sojourn.

As you probably all know by now, the theme of Lagerfeld's Autumn Winter collection and show was that of a winter wonderland. Guests were seated whispering curiously about the giant white box plopped on top of the runway. What was under there? After last season's haystack, I was expecting grand, but as the box disappeared upwards towards the ceiling and an enormous Arctic landscape emerged, steam curling up from the shallow pools of icy blue water about the bases of smaller bergs and caverns of ice, I gasped like a little girl from a sunny land in pure delight upon spying her first polar bear ever at the zoo. But this polar bear, the glamazonian faux fur shag clad creature perched at the tip of the iceberg, inches from Grace Coddington's face, was the chicest of the genus, giving the endangered species' look a new lease on fashion life.

Then, one by one, the wookies began to walk. Such a whimsical and fun collection--yak-style shag boots with clear plastic (i.e. "ice cube") heels stalked the runway to my sheer and utter delight. I had bought a pair pretty much identical to those seen on the runway in a vintage store in Rome back in November to the snickerage of my traveling companions. Lagerfeld even busted out a thigh-high wader version of the same, making Prada's rubber numbers from two seasons ago look like actual fly-fishing gear and oh so passe. Look who's snickering now.

The fur featured in trousers, as paneled detail on coats and jackets, as full on medieval king style robes (for both men and women), large, sumptuous totes and delicate chain-strapped evening bags (even a furry CC branded murse for the gents)...it was everywhere. Chanel the teddy bear has at last officially arrived--also available in backpack form! And as if to underscore his choice of set, Lagerfeld (never mind his creative direction at ultimate furrier Fendi) only employed the fake stuff. No endangered polar bears at the House of Chanel this season.

Now that I've finished my breathless excited rant about the faux fur of my girlish winter princess fantasies (who didn't want to be an ice queen??), let's move on to the rest of the collection.

While all the Yeti business was in and of itself quite distracting, the rest of the collection exuded classic Chanel elegance with an array of tweeds in rich autumnal hues such as reds and navies and browns, gorgeously tailored tweed jackets with the pearl strands piled on. There were lady-like shifts in a classic black and white check for day and chunky handspun cocoon knits. A quasi-Norwegian pom-pom adorned sweater was teamed with brown bear cub faux fur bum shorts--perhaps not the most iconically Chanel of the collection, but can't we just imagine how adorable gorgeous gap-toothed Vanessa Paradis is going to look cozying up to the camera in that outfit!?

Then came the evening set. And it was here that Lagerfeld truly went for the gold in realizing the ultimate in frosty fantasy. Legions of models clad in fuzzy winter white, be it faux rabbit fur or supersoft cashmere or fuzzy mohair or yards of intricately hand-beaded lace--Lagerfeld stuck with an all white palette as pure as snow. Sure there were exceptions, a stunning pale blue and black hand rouched party dress and a 19th century flavoured masculine jacket and trouser ensemble, but the white on white was just so stunning. The models appeared like apparitions, waifing like snow on the wind through their icy landscape. They were like the personification of the beauty of snow itself--each with it's own unique and intricate identity. Contrasting layers of white on white texture gave the illusion of different layers of snow--fresh and fluffy on top, hard and icy underneath. Crystal detail and breathtaking ice inspired chunky jewellery--not to mention a little ice cube box on a chain evening bag--perfected the wintry illusion.

All in all, the collection was a little girl's dream, a dream of fantasy and adventure, where girls are jewel-bedecked princesses and fashion is not about the clothes you wear, but the special place to which those clothes or those accessories have the capacity to whisk you away. It's not fashion, it's Chanel, dahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhling!