Ein explain Artikel

“I have a tight, precise concept ... and I stay with it.” says Karl Lagerfeld († FEB 19th, 2019) in the Netflix documentary series “7 days out” with one episode dedicated to “CHANEL Haute Couture Fashion Show”. Director Andrew Rossi was given complete access to CHANEL‘s most known Art Director Karl Lagerfeld and his whole team in order to capture the final preparations of the Spring Summer 2018 Haute Couture show. It’s one of the most important fashion shows in the world and some people would do anything to see this show. The show takes place at Paris’ Historic Grand Palais and features 64 handmade garments. Each outfit takes over 160 hours to make, starting six weeks before the show. The price range of one outfit starts anywhere from tens of thousands and goes up to hundreds of thousands. “It is not for the faint of heart.” says Robin Givhan, Pulitzer Prize Winning Fashion Critic from The Washington Post. Having worked in the fashion industry myself, the CHANEL show was always the highlight of the season. Totally bursting with curiosity about the huge event that influences the whole world far beyond the fashion industry. The “enormous event that’s totally mind-boggling” how Robin Givhan calls it. Hosting the crème de la crème with A-list celebrities, actors, fashion critics and true CHANEL collectors from all over the world who get the honor to experience a three-dimensional, incomparable world. The setting ranged from a real melting glacier in the middle of the Grand Palais, a shopping spree through a supermarket up to a rocket that fired up and appeared to lift off. It’s safe to say, CHANEL never fails to pull off the most amazing show of the season.

The theme of this season is gardens, an ode to spring and summer. A lot of embroidery with flowers, powdery colors paired with a very soft and feminine touch. “What Karl is offering up is a vision that is so full of light. In a sense, that’s the power of fashion, because it’s transformative. Cause it can make you feel ... uplifted, empowered ... given wings. It’s a dream realized.” says Amanda Harlech, Creative Consultant at CHANEL. The set design must reflect what CHANEL does, it must be perfect. It has to look like a real garden, a magical fairytale-like retreat with a perfect fountain, beautiful flowers and plants, even though everyone knows this is only a set. Everyone knows this is not real, but it has to have the power to transport the audience to another universe. A carefully designed universe that is perfect and pure where, for a couple of minutes, you forget about reality and just enjoy the moment. The colors of the set have to play a symphony of an enchanting dream reflecting the colors and the fluidity of the collection. “Three, two, one, go!” It’s this moment of suspense, the music starts and the first model is entering the fantastic world of CHANEL. One model after the other one appears, beginning from day wear with the suits to evening wear.

After only a couple of minutes the show ends with the final piece of the collection. A special wedding dress, half the brides‘ dress and half trousers. It’s a very emotional moment, because everyone knows how many hours it took to create those dresses. Finally Karl walks out accompanied by a loud and intense applause from the audience, feeling the great energy of this amazing place. The presentation was a success, that’s what every presenter is waiting for when he finishes. No matter how small the place or how short the presentation, the sets from an Haute Couture show are an inspirational source for every presentation to be held.

When we carefully analyze all the team members of an Haute Couture show with the participants of a presentation we can see how much resemblance there is. Starting with the designer who has a big vision constructing a dream in which consumers want to participate. Depending on the topic and the message, a speaker or presenter wants the exact same thing. Continuing with the models wearing the stunning dresses, we can compare them to the perfectly designed slides that are being presented. There is a fluidity throughout the whole presentation, an overall layout even though every slide is unique by itself. Similar to the catwalk the presenter has a red thread he has to follow during his presentation. Making sure he mentions every single aspect important to his presentation for his employees, his investors or his general audience. The overall theme of a presentation is represented by the set design. In an Haute Couture show the set design acts as a catalyst of the designer’s vision. In the end any presentation tells a story that ideally captures the attention of the audience completely.

At this point you probably ask yourself … what can we actually learn from the Haute Couture settings? The most important thing to remember for your set is to be innovative and original. True inspiration can come from almost anything or any place. Go out for a run, take out your garbage and maybe in that exact moment you’ll get the ultimate idea. Never stop thinking about creative ways to help tell your story so you can turn your most desired fantasy into something stunning to draw in the audience.