"... an electronic flash in my head at five o'clock one morning."

Chanel, Chanel - perhaps Karl's first ever collection with no navy or black. Romanticism, space age, and intense amount of hand-worked optical illusion on the tiniest scale - take, for example, the ruffled skirts and dresses that took a significant chunk of the show: the edges of each tier were frayed just slightly, then hand-tinted in such a way that it looked almost like fur. Similarly, lots of playing with textures went on - molten, frothy, liquid... and embroidery that looked like shattered glass. Snaps to stylists too - all the jewellery somehow worked itself into the clothing, so it was hard to tell if it was accessoire or embellishment. And would you look at those collars!

One thing. Make that two. The whole time, I kept thinking of Zac Posen's 'naughty Minnie' hair from Fall 2008. Two: is it just me, a trick of light (quite possible) or nothing at all, or did Mr Karl pull a softer metallic Jean Paul Gaultier Fall 2009? I'm talking tights here. Not just tights. The tights I'm still hunting for 10 months on. *sigh*

*love*

xx

Chanel Pre-Fall.

Karl Lagerfeld hosted a rather extravagant runway show (Pre-Fall) in Shanghai on Thursday night against that famous skyline and the waterfront. The collection quite obviously referred to Chinese history with the always-present element of Parisienne. It's a bit hard to pin any word to the vibe - it's very elegant, sophisticated... but also very street-style-aware (where designers are suddenly realising that their designs no longer remain purely on the catwalk).

Aside: Abbey Lee looks so strangely different - lighting?

Hello, Baptiste.

*love*

xx

Hush.

Um. Hello Baptiste :) And the Shanghai Chanel store that will be hung with all these images.

*love*

xx

Chanel 2010.

Earlier this week in Buenos Aires, shooting for the 2010 campaign. I swear, she never ages.

*love*

xx

I love you, I love you.

Chanel, for a change, was very sweet and subdued, but overstated at the same time. It was interesting to see how much closer to their age (i.e. 15-16) some of the models looked when they smiled. The show also had a completely separate media area - and might I say, I quite enjoyed the set.

*love*

xx

Anna Sassin is out to get you.

The ones you most suspect.