Chanel SS'14 - Contemporary Couture

Sweet, structured and wildly contemporary: the Chanel Spring/Summer 2014 Haute Couture show fused Princess like delicacy with the nonchalant cool of trainers, bum bags and skater pads.

Models literally skipped and bounded down the extravagant stair cases in the Grand Palais: letting the soft soles of couture trainers take them on a trip around the vast, swanky night club style space. Bejeweled, embroidered and dyed, these were not your average trainers. These were Lagerfeld crafted, trainers stitched with glamour.

Sea blues, soft lilacs and sugary sweet pastel colours made up a beautifully iridescent, mermaid worthy colour palette, structured in the house's classic tweed, or else light organzas and tulles. Be it cropped a-line tops and skirts that sit low on the hips, over sized pockets, or sheer fabrics, the collection proved to be strikingly sci fi for a couture collection. Youthfulness was the planted seed it seems.

Sebastien Tellier's uplifting beats, the revolving stage and clean white interior gave the show a relaxed, gracious aura that was upstaged only by the coolness of the collection. Ending with Cara Delvingue cascading down the stairs in a glistening silver dress with a sheer overlay, (amply dressed and apparently random page boy in toe), you couldn't help feeling something very special had happened. Like the ending of a theater production, an intense play, or a concert, I imagine there was a connection in the room: a frisson of electricity strung from editor to blogger to buyer. Sadly I can only assume this, as I haven't received my invite to a Chanel Haute couture show yet.

*I do not own these images*