Those Interlocking Influences

INTERLOCKING THE INFLUENCES OF COCO CHANEL AND KARL LAGERFELD, Mademoiselle Privé was described by The Guardian as "less a retrospective of a long-dead designer than an exhibition about how Karl Lagerfeld invented the character Coco Chanel as we think of her today." Indeed, the exhibit combined history and imagination in presenting the origins and manifestations of Chanel's codes.

There were rooms dedicated to fragrance, fabric, film and ephemera, as well as workshops for embroidery with Lesage, feather and flower making with Lemarié, and olfactive enlightenment through the legendary Chanel N°5. My favorite of the rooms was the jardin à la française, which featured interlocking C-shaped pathways curving through real hedges.

With only a few pieces remaining from the original Bijoux de Diamants collection designed by Coco Chanel herself, the entire jewelry line was recreated for the exhibit and worn in portraits by celebrities including Julianne Moore, Vanessa Paradis, Kristen Stewart and Lily-Rose Depp. Also replicated was the famed mirrored staircase from which Coco Chanel secretly watched her fashion show audiences. The rest of her Rue Cambon apartment could be visited virtually through the Mademoiselle Privé app.

To most of the world, Chanel is a sphere one could only peer into through pictures and videos. The exhibit at Saatchi Gallery was a delightfully accessible way to "C the World" built in turns by Coco Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld. Although taking its title from the "Mademoiselle Privé" sign Coco hung on the door of her atelier to work undisturbed, the exhibit was anything but unwelcoming. Chanel CEO Bruno Pavlovsky affirmed: "We felt it was a good time for the brand to give away some secrets."

Mademoiselle Privé at the Saatchi Gallery, October 13 - November 1, 2015. mademoiselleprive.chanel.com Photos by Lady San Pedro and Jaime Sese.

MADEMOISELLE PRIVÉ IS CHAPTER THREE OF CHRISTMAS TRIO:
A THREE-PART STORY FEATURING SOME OF LONDON'S BIGGEST AUTUMN EXHIBITIONS.

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