One thing we love about Couture Fashion Week is the opportunity to see designers take their creations to the edge of their imaginations and back; that moment of blurring the line between fashion and art has made for some of the most beautiful pieces ever worn. The modern shapes and wearable styles from the Chanel Couture Spring 2014 runway were not artistic fantasies, but rather a more subdued version of what that dream could be. Soft, angelic shades came out in similar silhouettes that left us feeling sort of—underwhelmed—that is until we saw the evening gowns.
Karl Lagerfeld’s designs were absolutely modern—girls walked out in dresses with full skirts, slim waists and bubble crop tops in floral laces, pastel tweeds and basic solids, blending a more feminine silhouette and street style aesthetic into one perfect piece. We loved it—until we saw the exact same shape come down the runway a third, a fourth, a fifteenth time. Paired with sneakers and metallic knee-pads (for all those sports you play in your Chanel couture), the dresses seemed fresh—playful yet sophisticated—something any “it” girl would be happily photographed in.
Despite the redundant shapes in the first half of the collection, the evening gowns were perfectly suited for the red carpet for both classic Hollywood starlets and young party girls. Sequins, iridescent fabrics and wispy feathers flowed over gowns while models floated down the runway staircase in soft pastels.
The collection was dazzling—light, delicate and almost ethereal in its beauty. It captured a modern femininity that’s rarely seen outsides of street style fashion, let alone on couture runways—but that’s the magic of Lagerfeld—his designs are an amalgam of timelessness and modernity. We just wish we had seen less of the crop-top bell-skirt-combo. And don’t even get us started on those fanny packs.
