The Tweed River runs through Chanel RTW Fall Winter 2022/2023

On the last day of Paris Fashion Week, under the Grand Palais Éphémère, CHANEL presented its Fall-Winter 2022/23 Ready-to-Wear Collection, a wonderful ode to tweed. The day before, the most beautiful invitation from the fashion sphere and the teaser of the show shot by the duo of Dutch photographers Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin had already set the tone.

Then comes the decor of the living room: tweed is everywhere and in all colors, from light brown to black or white on the tweed upholstered seats and on the walls, a touch of pop color on the Chanel initials. In the middle, the track is light green in reference to the River Tweed in Scotland.

The river flows east across the Scottish borders into northern England.

“We followed in the footsteps of Gabrielle Chanel along the Tweed River, to imagine tweeds in the colors of this landscape” says Virginie Viard. Gabrielle Chanel discovered tweed in the early 1920s by borrowing oversized jackets from her lover, Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster. “There’s nothing sexier than wearing the clothes of the person you love.“, added Virginie Viard.

CHANEL feminized tweed and became the eternal signature of the House with its iconic tweed suit launched in 1954. Gabrielle Chanel loved the Scottish countryside and during her long walks there, she picked flowers and green plants in reference to the tones of colors and fabrics she sourced from local Harris Tweed weavers.

On Tuesday March 8, the show was very moving and the music too. The models walked through the Beatles song “A day in the life” and its opening line “I read the news today, oh Boy”, a reminder of the dire current situation. Chanel, that day, as always, offered a parenthesis of enchantment in this world.

Virginie Viard brings “that je ne sais quoi” of French elegance. The silhouettes of Chanel’s Fall Winter Collection offer a spectrum of femininity from a boyish tweed suit with contrasting pockets, worn with rubber ankle boots decorated with a double C. The it boot of the next Fall season.

In the collection, creative director Virginie Viard used the full range of shades from psychedelic pinks, purples, greens to heather tones for winter walks in the countryside, to the color palettes of a misty morning.

There is a graphic tweed jacket in Prince of Wales checks with a high collar, flowing trousers in shimmering lamé, a short dress embroidered with constellations of giant sequins worn with long socks and pointed pumps with mini stiletto heels in patent leather. Models browse Johnny Greenwood’s Spencer soundtrack, one of the songs from the Princess Diana biopic. There’s an aristocratic British spirit running through the collection, it’s moody but so glamorous.

Tweed is an attitude, tweed is a precious texture and the very embodiment of Chanel. A Chanel parade full of deep emotions.