Chanel: Métiers d'art collections.

I’m aware of the fact that I’ve been talking about Karl Lagerfeld a lot lately. But it’s just so very easy to find new interesting information/articles about him. Journalists and magazines must be most interested in interviewing Karl, I guess. I read a spectacular interview with Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli about a year ago, and I recall flicking through the most amazing Valentino interview at least 10 years ago (I remember it being one of the first fashion encounters that really startled my interest.) Of course there was the Tom Ford Vogue Paris issue that had some good articles to it. But still, I seldom come across a good online interview with other designers. Maybe I’m looking in the wrong places, I don’t know, but in future I’ll just try to find interviews with other designers by searching for it very specifically…

But I’ll start with this article in WSJ magazine (The Old-World Artistry behind the Modern House of Chanel: A first-ever look inside the French luxury house's legendary haute ateliers) on Chanel and the Métiers d’Art collections. The Métiers d’Art collections are special showcases for the decorative crafts of the Parisian ateliers Chanel has worked with for several decades. (Desrues the costume jewellers, Lesage the embroiderers, milliner Michel, feather artisan Lemarié, cobbler Massaro, floral designer Guillet, and silversmith Goosens.) Many of them are acquired by the House of Chanel, to preserve the highly skilled arts from the fast-fashion trends. Houses like Dior and Louis Vuitton (it’s all very select) are allowed to use the work shops as well. Every year there’s a Métiers d’Art collection in another international city to highlight the aterliers’ remarkable skill. These are in fact full collections that balance spring’s Cruise collections. As Karl Lagerfeld himself says: “but it is a real collection as important as Fall, Spring and Cruise.” This issue focuses on the recent Paris-Byzance collection that is based on Coco Chanel’s private byzantine jewelry collection. You can find pictures and interactive graphics (even prices!) by clicking on the link. I’ll ad another link to a short Q&A interview that accompanies the initial article.

Métiers d'Art: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704495004576265232574017932.html#project%3DSLIDESHOW08%26s%3DSB10001424052748704071704576277510621573864%26articleTabs%3Darticle

Q&A: 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703983704576277292669720956.html

I’ll probably talk some more about Chanel the following days with the Cruise Collection being presented tomorrow as well as the new short movie the day after. But to create a little variation I will talk about some other people/issues afterwards.  

Inspiration and pictures via http://online.wsj.com/public/page/magazine-index.html