Chanel RTW Spring 2024

Coco Chanel pretty much wrote the book on French girl style. The designer was the first to popularize the sailor top and is credited with inventing both the Little Black Dress and the modern-day tweed jacket.

Designers galore still trade off that look, so it made sense that Virginie Viard’s spring collection read like an ABC of Parisian chic.

The display was timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Villa Noailles, the modernist home built by art patrons Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles in the South of France. Chanel and the couple moved in the same circles, befriending artists such as Pablo Picasso, Man Ray and Jean Cocteau.

Chanel is a major sponsor of the centenary, which comes with a raft of cultural activities, including an exhibition dedicated to the wardrobe of Marie-Laure de Noailles, set to open next week, that features reproductions of three Chanel designs from the 1930s.

Viard doesn’t take her inspirations too literally, so there was not much of a retro theme to her lineup. Instead, she focused on the essence of what Chanel and her circle stood for: a sense of freedom that was reflected in designs that could easily walk off the catwalk and onto the street — or better still, the beach.

“A theme nourishes the imagination, but we’re talking about today. There is no Coco Chanel and no Man Ray,” she said in a preview. “I always try to portray a woman who is free and comfortable in her own skin, with a little twist of eccentricity or sophistication.”

Viard opened with a caftan-like tweed tunic in a TV static check, but quickly moved on to more summery fare. Sailor tops came in all sorts of guises, from a traditional striped version paired with white leather pants, ballet flats, a quilted handbag and pearls, to dressier black versions in sheer chiffon or a nubby knit.

A fine white knit vest and black knit skirt, with panels that tied in front like a sweater, may not deliver runway fireworks, but will surely sell like hot cakes. Ditto for the jeans and flip flops, striped terrycloth jackets and dressing gown coats that had an uncomplicated appeal.

Her minimalist evening looks also delivered, from a monochrome maxidress in sunray pleats to a series of sheer black gowns.

At Chanel’s 19M campus, Viard has some of the world’s most skilled specialty studios at her fingertips, and she made full use of their craftsmanship with items like a tweed suit in a grid pattern inspired by the Cubist checkered gardens at Villa Noailles, a Bauhaus-inspired villa designed by architect Robert Mallet-Stevens.

A floral trim on the jacket and an asymmetric hem added depth to the Barbie pink look, but other times, Viard got lost in decorative effects. A pencil skirt with fussy geometric embroidery was paired with a striped gold Lurex cardigan, a vest embroidered with graphic black camellias and sparkly shoes — a mashup that made for a definite case of visual overload.

Having said that, a look at Chanel’s front row indicates that it caters to one of the widest demographics of any luxury label. A mature customer probably isn’t looking for a striped Breton top and ballet flats, as cool as they might be, but might gravitate toward the trippy floral prints.  

The cultural aura around the brand gives it added cachet. Chanel not only sponsors leading institutions such as the Paris Opera, but also fosters emerging talents. At the upcoming Hyères International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories, held annually at the Villa Noailles, it is extending its support to encompass the main photography prize.

“This cultural dimension also nourishes the imaginary world of the collections and therefore trickles down into the product,” Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion and president of Chanel SAS, told WWD.

He revealed that the brand has renovated Coco Chanel’s villa La Pausa on the French Riviera and plans to reopen it next year with a program of cultural events.

“It will be a way of restoring the villa to what it was, that is to say a kind of artists’ house,” he said. “For me, it has nothing to do with nostalgia. On the contrary, it’s a way to project ourselves into the culture of tomorrow.”

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