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- The best looks had a rock ‘n’ roll vibe that will appeal to Chanel’s younger, millennial customer base: cool girls like actress and show guest Lucy Boynton
When French luxury brand Chanel announced that its 2023-24 Métiers d’Art show would take place in Manchester, England, it came as a bit of a surprise. Past destinations for the unveiling of the range have included Dallas, Edinburgh, Rome and Dakar, but Manchester – a gritty city known for its industrial heritage, gloomy weather and hardcore nightlife – is as far away as one can be from the rarefied world of Parisian couture.
The Métiers d’Art collection, which is unique to Chanel, is meant to display the savoir faire of the French label’s ateliers – workshops like embroiderer Lesage, shoemaker Massaro and feather-maker Lemarié – that Chanel has acquired to preserve crafts that may be seen as niche by those outside fashion, but play a vital role in the making of the creations at the heart of a haute couture maison.
While craftsmanship is a key element of all Métiers d’Art collections, they’re also a way for the Chanel design studio, helmed by creative director Virginie Viard, to indulge in flights of fancy. These collections incorporate elements of the show location, whether it’s stars and stripes and cowboy boots for the Dallas range or beaded jackets and Chanel double Cs blown up into animal prints for the more recent Dakar outing.
For the Manchester range, which was unveiled in the Northern Quarter, a neighbourhood filled with cool shops, hip restaurants and art galleries, Viard chose the city’s music scene as her main source of inspiration. Manchester is the birthplace of Britpop and home to Hacienda, a legendary club where bands such as Primal Scream, New Order, Oasis and The Stone Roses performed back in the 1980s and 1990s, when the city was the epicentre of rock and pop music.
In a statement released before the show, Chanel said that it had chosen Manchester because it is “one of the most effervescent cities of pop culture and an avant-garde one, whose bands, spanning all genres, have changed the history of music”.
Translating that rebellious attitude into refined luxury garments is not easy, but when looking at Viard’s personal style – she’s often clad in beat-up Converse shoes and distressed jeans, paired with a band T-shirt and a Chanel jacket – you can see why the free spirit and underground culture of Manchester would appeal to her. “For me, Manchester is the city of music,” Viard said. “It incites creation.”
The colourful tweed looks that opened the show provided a much-needed contrast to the dreary Manchester weather, but it was when Viard channelled her fascination with all things British that things really became fun. Jeans, leather separates and baby-doll dresses paired with Mary Jane shoes had a rock ‘n’ roll vibe that will appeal to Chanel’s younger customer base, cool girls like British-American actress Lucy Boynton, who took in the show along with A-listers like Kristen Stewart, Tilda Swinton, Jenna Coleman and Zhou Xun.
“I’m always excited to find out where these shows take place and how they allow the surroundings to influence them,” Boynton said after the show. “[The choice of Manchester] was unexpected, but as soon as you put it together it makes sense, especially if you know Virginie and her appreciation of cultural influences. The show had such an exciting edge for such an iconically elegant brand that feels really truthful and authentic to Chanel and to Gabrielle Chanel herself who had this bold edge to her. I’ve already screenshot[ted] so many looks I hope to wear.”
The show was another powerful statement from the quintessentially French luxury maison in spite of some sensational headlines in British tabloids of complaints about road closures and other disruptions to city life. Things on the ground told a very different story. Conversation after conversation with locals ranging from shopkeepers to students showed how grateful and proud Mancunians were that Chanel picked their town for this show. Not only did the event support Manchester’s economy, but it also helped celebrate a “second city” that is actually second to none and has plenty to offer for those looking for true grit and a touch of glamour.