The 2024/25 Métiers d’art revisits the collection of Coromandel lacquer that inspired Gabrielle Chanel’s vision by visiting where they are from.
Chanel brought its timeless savoir-faire to the southern Chinese city of Hangzhou, where the 2024/25 Métiers d’art collection was unveiled. The aptly chosen metropolis is where old traditions meet new ideas—once an ancient capital that welcomed cultural, artistic, and religious exchange, it is now a hub for some of the world’s largest information technology companies.
The nighttime show saw models walking on the shore of the legendary West Lake against the backdrop of live drums by Gu Xing Zhe Cultural Arts Troupe and enchanting historical canals, bridges and pagodas. Since the 9th Century, the lake has been inspiring poets, artists, and scholars, including Gabrielle Chanel.
The collection’s narrative was captured by filmmaker Wim Wenders in a trailer starring the house’s ambassadors Tilda Swinton, Leah Dou, and Xin Zhilei. The teaser revisits a lacquer coromandel screen in Gabrielle Chanel’s Rue Cambon office that depicts the vibrance of West Lake in delicate carvings. Although Mademoiselle Chanel has never set foot in China, its cultural motifs have fueled her design language. Wenders’ storytelling builds on this legacy and reimagines the lacquer screen by juxtaposing decorative elements with modern technology, in coherence with the city’s spirit. “Just like its setting, this film strays between past and present, fantasy and reality, showing how curiosity can be ignited by image, interchange, and an open mind.”
Since the inception of the annual Métiers d’art collection in 2001, Chanel has been revitalising craftsmanship with a fleet of artisanal maison meticulously reimagining the house’s heritage at places like Manchester and Dakar. This year, the motifs of the coromandel screens are manifested by the crafts of Chanel’s maisons d’art ateliers, bringing together hundreds of feather workers, paruriers, goldsmiths, pleaters, shoemakers, and milliners. The traveller theme runs across the collection with vanity cases and travel bags celebrating the intersection of cultures. “She was a great traveller, at least in her imagination,” said Wenders, “and her work was about being free to move,” added Swinton.
Swathes of embroidery and layering silhouettes reference the coromandel panels in Mademoiselle Chanel’s office. The jade green, pink, and sky blue color palette nods to the lacquer, while black and brown recreate the texture of the wood as well as the lake’s misty scenery at night. Faded blue jeans are said to remind the ripples on the lake’s surface. Medallions and cuffs made by Goosens study the form of Chinese flora as well as the natural ageing of earthenware. The silk satin and the luminescent silkiness of the pockets, pagoda sleeves, mandarin collars and phosphorescent braids remind that Hangzhou was once the prestigious center of the silk trade.
The collection also features black patent leather slippers and mid-calf boots made by Massaro, pleating and flounces by Lemarié and Lognon, and hats by Maison Michel.
All images courtesy of Chanel.
