A pop-up love-in between a French house like Chanel and Parisian boutique colette might sound like an odd mish-mash but colette's creative director Sarah Lerfel can be relied upon for being pretty much spot on when it comes to gauging synergies and collaborations hence why there's always SOMETHING interesting going down at colette during fashion week (remember Rodarte's curated in-store shop?) and hence why in general, there's always a horde of people gathered in and around the eponymous boutique.
Nip across the road and you have yourself a much more ambitious beast than an in-store curated space and in a disused garage, a bit of an anomoly on the poshy rue Saint Honore in Paris, houses a great deal of Chanel product but presented and merchandised under the wizardry of the colette spin. If it overturns your pre-conceived notions of Chanel products then I suppose that's an objective achieved as you enter to immediately find those famous Chanel jackets from the S/S 11 collection draped over pieces of Rodarte, Carven, Christopher Kane and Mary Katrantzou (both currently inhabiting the colette main window), artisanal knitwear, loud prints, neon and a sparkly lampshade skirt all blasting noise next to the recognisable tweed jackets that form the perfect juxtaposition point. Pleasingly, it's all styled in the way that I'd imagine I'd wear a Chanel tweed jacket should I ever be fortunate to own one seeing as head to toe tweed is never going to be me and "throwing" one on with jeans has become a banality in itself when it's quoted so often (I love the riche talk of "throwing on" a £5k Chanel jacket).
The love-in has resulted in a space filled with the sort of attention-diverting kitschenalia that colette has become known for such as Bearbricks carrying sheeny shiny patent quilted bags...
...a bakery truck provided by cool Parisian patisserie Chez Bogato (not that cakes need to be cool to be delish..)...
...complete with camelia and colette-insignia branded cupcakes...
A photo booth (for a bargainous EUR2 - it's 4 quid to get some boring passport pics done in the UK...) will also get people to linger on a bit in the way that colette seem to have a knack of getting people to do...
I'm not sure whether these dolls are for sale or not but who knew the colette dot would look so good on a mini Coco Chanel...
Products created exclusively for the pop-up love-in are par for the course and so Maison Michel (owned by Chanel) have created a dotty version of their lace veil headband...
Yazbukey, creators of the famous Karl Lagerfeld acrylic brooch seen above were also enlisted to create this Chanel No.5 brooch, one of the more affordable trinkets available from the pop-up and of course it's enticingly placed next to the S/S 11 black/gold chain necklace...
The majority of products are still Chanel ones though, but placed in a context where Kevin Lyons' illustrations grace the concrete walls sprayed with flashes of fluoro pink, suddenly there's an accessibility and touchability to the clothes that even makes me have the gall to go up and try a few jackets on, something I've never been able to do in a Chanel store because I feel like I'm going to muddy their plush cream carpeted surroundings with my stench of "Eau de Too-Poor-For-Chanel".
These flats are right up my street with their 'Barbie lame' finishing...
The brevity of the pop-up (it's open until 10th March only so it's definitely geared towards the fashion week crowd...) means that colette and Chanel have crammed in events and happenings throughout the week to ensure effective crowd-drawing. Today, it kicked off with Keith Lyons, who did the wall illustrations, customising Chanel bags for people...
I'll probably never hear the end of outcries going "Sacre Bleu! One must NEVER deface a CLASSIC Chanel bag. One polishes it with a soft cloth and then prays to its calfskin exterior twice a day!" Well, seeing as this is all sanctioned by Chanel themselves, I guess whoever wants it can go right ahead and have their bag doodled. I suspect it might be those that have these bags in multiple quantities but who's checking...
The schedule has an interesting mix that has a similar juxtaposition to the way the Chanel pieces are styled in-store fusing new and old. Harpsichord playing mixed with DJ sets by The Misshapes is the music clash equivalent. I'll personally be keen to see a camelia flower making demonstrationg by Maison Lemarié, the Chanel-owned plumassiers atelier as well as further bag customisation sessions with the likes of André and Fafi. Go on, Chanel-bag owning peeps who will be in Paris... I dare you to get some scribbles on that quilted leather.
