The upcoming Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks will be exclusively online, and the Chanel fashion house surprised yesterday with a special announcement. A note published by the Maison states that the Cruise 2021/2022 collection will take place on Tuesday, May 4th, 2021, at “Les Carrières de Lumières”, south of France. A fascinating location characterized by white limestone quarries and already used in the past. It was the backdrop for the 1959 film “The Testament of Orpheus”, directed by Jean Cocteau, a friend of Gabrielle Chanel.
In recent years, the site has become a tourist hub hosting multimedia light and sound shows. The Cruise collection has been linked to the history of the Maison since the early 1920s. Here Gabrielle Chanel proposed to her clients for the first time lightweight models, perfect for holidays in the French Riviera sun. We recall, in fact that it was Coco Chanel who encouraged women to get a tan, abandoning the sickly nineteenth-century pallor.
Last year, the French Maison had planned to present the Cruise 2020/2021 in Capri on May 7th, but it had decided to cancel the event due to the pandemic. Prada, Gucci, Versace, Giorgio Armani, Dior, Hermès, and Max Mara had also suspended their resort shows due to the virus. Having abandoned the idea of the show in Capri, Chanel had later presented the collection in digital form, through a video shot in the historic headquarters in Paris, but able to recreate the atmospheres of vacation and leisure, between sea, beach, and a beautiful villa.
