Parisian Fashion Scene: Chanel and Colette Boutique Team Up for a Rock 'n Roll Theme

     Chanel and the avant-garde Colette Boutique have teamed up to do a joint fashion event. In a write up , Chanel's creative designer, Karl Lagerfeld, is described as " ...the Mick Jagger of fashion," and it goes on to say that " it makes total sense that Chanel is collaborating with Paris’ famed Colette boutique on a rock ‘n roll themed pop-up shop in a former garage." The event is scheduled to run from March 1 to 10.

      It would be interesting to see how the team effort between "The French house and the French store" will turn into a new fashion sense. Much is known about Chanel as being one of the more famous French houses for haute couture. Colette, on the other hand is only going on 14 years young and has become more than an avant-garde fashion boutique. It has other things that make it a style mecca, in a minimalist setting that includes a water bar, a place to eat, and an added range of products - cultural, literary works, beauty products, music, water coming from all over the world and more. You just need to take the time to browse around to see what Colette is all about.

On my way to 336 - 340 rue St. Honoré, the temporary location for this rock-n-roll tpop-up, I enjoyed my walk on a sunny Tuesday.  When I got there, as usual, the no-photo policy was in order. I went in and looked around for a good hour, eyeing the specialty items chosen for this  first-of-its-kind collaboration. 

After, I stepped out and started to take pictures from the outside, through the glass, which can be a hard thing during the daytime. The reflections from the surroundings become part of the glass screen that, sometimes, your subject is overpowered by other images.  

The Chanel contributions consisted mostly of the accessories such as bags and shoes, and the short-dressy jackets worn over the dresses, adding elegance, a finished look, sophistication, and added style to the popular clothes line of Collete, designed by young designers.  

This was a good texture-with-texture pairing. The textural pattern of the jacket matched something on the stripes of the dress, making it appear like the two fabrics were made to be coordinate materials.

In today's fashion sense, anything goes. If you like it, however outfits are put together, it works. Although, there are some rules that seem to be followed, instinctively.

     There are multiple screens set up on one of the back walls, where fashion show videos are continually shown. 

     On the right side wall, the top display cubes had the collectible dolls designed by Karl Lagerfeld, himself. 

     On the lower shelves below the dolls, the discs of song compilations were organized. Two of the titles were "Discolette" and "SX 70" selected by Jefferson Hack for Collete.

There was printed material on sale. The magazine that stood out was  "french revues de modes." There were some coffee-table books: "Mademoiselle Coco Chanel Summer '62," text by Karl Lagerfeld; "Lewis Baltz Works"; Bruge Davidson's "Outside Inside"; "Past Present Peru Photos.Music.Film" by John Cohen. 

In Collete fashion, the wall designs were prominent, as seen from the outside, through the right-side front-display window.

Colette is a favorite among the jet-set fashionistas. With a Chanel touch, the fashion trend becomes classy-avant-garde, both youthful and sophisticated. 

This Chanel jacket caught my attention. It is displayed on two mannequins. There are many intricate details in the execution of this design. Note the strips  of fabric with unfinished edges but cut to have a fringe effect, sewn to cover every part in the jacket. The finishing material was not just a plain bias tape, but it had black and white narrow, bias strips of chiffon; tiny feathers; straw-like fringes, twisted and sewn together to make an unusual, pretty finishing-touch to the neckline, the pockets, and the hip line. 

Collete's dessert bar was included in this set-up, with cupcakes and cookies, by Chef Boga.

     Note the mannequin with the red jacket. The dress is an orange lace - from the neckline to all the way down to the center, the border lace designs were traced with multi-colored glass-opaque beads of green, aqua, red, and black.  The red jacket is made of a shiny shear material, with 3/4 sleeves, ready for use on a chilly spring day.  

    On the side wall, on the left-side corner, the scooter helmets by Ruby®Paris Pavillion, designed by Jerome Coste, were on display. They came in striped and polka-dotted designs, as well as in solid colors.

(Picture taken at the Chanel Shoe Store window display)     

     Diagonally across from the helmets were the display of ballerina flat shoes by Chanel, just like these pearlized snakeskin in pink, silvery white and the metalic logo shoe in the picture. There were other leather finishes  - birdseye, perforated, quilted - and fabrics used, and colors - pastel pink. white, cream, black , red and a couple of metallic shades.  

     The Leica cameras are on display on the square glass case, atop the black table.

     The other eye candies  in the store were some leather pieces with laser-perforated designs;  a Chanel pair of sunglasses with the sides trimmed with ribbons and feathers, from the corner of the eye to behind the earlobe. 

(Picture taken at the ERES boutique window display)

     Some pieces from the ERES Lingerie Collection designed by Lagerfeld are featured in the clothes rack section, along with the other dresses and jackets. It has been intimated that one who wears Eres lingerie under her clothes makes for a savvy fashionista.  
     
     This fashionable teamwork turned up to be a blend of classy, youthful, and spontaneous dressing for the luxurious lifestyle. There is more - on Saturday, there will be a camelia-making demo by couturiers from Chanel. See the "Mademoiselle handbags decorated by five Colette-picked artists - Kevin Lyons, Soledad, André, Fadi and SO-ME...There will also be a selection of Chanel bags customized by Chrome Hearts, as well as a myriad of Colette’s other products."
     If you are or will be in Paris, do remember that the "Chanel:Colette' fashion event will be held up to March 10, on rue Saint Honoré. Drop by , if you can...or you can go online, too.