Chanel's Cuban Resort Show 2016/2017: Full of bright colours & Cuban love

Courtesy of www.harpersbazaar.com

On the 3rd May Chanel showcased their Resort collection for 2016/2017 in Cuba. It was Chanel that started the concept of traveling to exotic locations for Resort shows. Now Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Dior have joined in on the idea of travelling to some luxurious location to show off their Resort collections, anything for some sun.

 

I realise this show was a over month ago and I'm terribly late about writing about it, I've had bits of pieces of it written for a while,so I have been trying. But even though it's late, who doesn't like looking at gorgeous Chanel clothes?

 

Since relations were restored between Cuba and the United States in 2015 the country has provided inspiration for a host of designers. Karl Lagerfeld was the first to actually take a show on the road to the island nation, which he first told the press about in October 2015. The event was also the first time Chanel had staged a show in Latin America.

 

Karl is one of the industry’s truly iconic designers, at the helm of two global brands (Chanel & Fendi) that he helped revitalise, as well as his own brand and has a pretty cute cat called Choupette to go with it. Lagerfeld said the Resort line was inspired by Cuba's "cultural richness", but it can be questioned if that is a romanticised version of an early 60's fantasised Cuba,since 11 million people live off $20 (£13.87) a month and food is scarce.

Courtesy of www.luxetipsmag.com

The American fashion press who flew into Cuba for the Chanel Resort show landed two hours before the first U.S. cruise ship to have docked in Havana from Florida, the first such crossing in more then 50 years.

 

Chanel invited seven hundred guests to the open-air street show on a promenade turned into a catwalk for the Cruise collection, even though Chanel goods are not even sold in Cuba. They would cost well beyond the average Cuban wage.

 

The worlds celebrities such as Tilda Swinton, Vin Diesel and Gisele Bündchen, amongst others in the fashion world such as Anna Wintour, Carine Roitfeld arrived in a multicoloured convoy of the city’s classic candy paint open-top Buicks, Cadillacs, and Oldsmobiles. The owners tooted their horns through the streets of Old Havana, while people came out to line the streets and crowds stood on dilapidated balconies and rooftops waving. The locals gave such a warm welcome to a super-luxurious brand and the wealthy women who were wearing it, even though the communist country is a poor one.

However, residents were frustrated that they were held behind police lines around the event venue and could only watch from behind the security cordon lines. Despite this there was still a huge level of excitement from the residents, after all it is a Chanel runway show.

There was a French-Cuban singing group called Ibeyi, who are twin sisters and were recently seen in Beyoncé's infamous Lemonade video. Now onto the collection, the clothes were exquisitely made, but were relatable, wearable and had a youthful and joyful feel to them.

 

Courtesy of www.fashionisers.com

Guests sat on park benches in the open air of the tree-lined Paseo del Prado, watching the models leisurely walk down the promenade in beautiful Chanel creations. There were black close fitting waist length jackets over wide-legged cuffed trousers, showing some Coco Chanel Twenties and Thirties style, when Cuba first became a popular cruise destination.

 

There were beautiful calf length 50's style swirly skirt dresses made of lace and organza. There were also some relaxed floaty dresses, neatly belted that were made of a material with Cuban 50's styled cars on. The gorgeous print was also used in other dresses and suits and also on a man's robe. There were also 50's style suits and wide ties.

 

There were flirty full printed skirts, crocheted summer dresses and skinny long tube dresses adorned with macramé (string knotted in a decorative pattern.) There were sleek tailored pieces full of bursts of colour, which was only right as Cuba is a city of colour with the vibrant painted streets of Havana. There were lots of bright pinks, yellows, coral oranges, greens, turquoises and blues.

Courtesy of www.coolchicstylefashion.com

There were also some sequin encrusted statement pieces and dresses that were lemony-oranges, peachy-pinks and greeny-blues. Amongst the bright colours there was still plenty of white, black and military like olive green.

 

There were lustrous cha-cha style numbers and a t-shirt worn by many models in different ways, which is bound to become a streetwear staple in the upcoming months, Chanel's "Viva Coco Libre". It was styled casually with long skirts and relaxed jeans, but also worn with the iconic Chanel tweed jacket for a more formal style.

 

A lot of craftyness went on with fab knits, fringing and macramé weaves on more then a few items. The Chanel embroiderers have had their work cut out decorating sleeves with dense layers of tattered fabric, influenced by the rumba sleeves of Cuban dancers.

Courtesy of fashionistas.com

 

The traditional Cuban shirt with flat pleats the Guayabera that has pockets, shoulder tabs and flat pleats was featured by Karl, who re-designed it in a variety of ways. The shirt came in a soft and sheer design as well as crisp and textured one. The designer made it an easy to wear blouse for the day paired with rolled up chinos. It was also shown in a more selacious way made of black transparent material and worn with a flared skirt.

 

Karl also re-designed the great Cuban classic Che Guevara military beret having a sparkly black version in the show with the Chanel emblem instead of a star. Many models wore Panama hats with Chanel camellias tucked into the hatbands.

The show was one of the most relaxed ones in years which also showed in the choice of footwear. Models wore flat brogues and typical Cuban flip-flops and slides that Cuban people wear every day. Accessories included cigar boxes as women's evening bags, tropical brooches and 'Coco Club' backpacks. It was very feminine with all the right accessories.

 

The iconic Coco Chanel boyish feminity was part of the show, it was Parisian chic infused with a Latino theme, light-hearted with very wearable clothes, no avant gardé pieces here. The show was a cheerful one and as it ended it broke out into a carnival where the models, audience and the local band all danced together. It was a refreshingly different relaxed show with Cuba's old-world charm and warmth well suiting the collection, with a joyous celebration of everything Cuban taking centre stage. Yet you could feel Coco Chanel so strongly in every look, you knew it was a Chanel show. You can watch the video of the show here.

 

Courtesy of www.vo-plus.com

Again I'm sorry this is such a late post, I hope you are still all interested in it and lusting after all the clothes as much as I am. Birthday fairy please take note.

 

Second Hand Rose

XxxX

 

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