CHANEL Spring 2019 Sunglasses

Fashionistas, attention please! CHANEL’s new Spring 2019 sunglasses will hit the stores this month and some of them will surely fly off the shelves. So better reserve your favorites now.

But what makes them stand out? It is the chain, an iconic signature at CHANEL. As an underlying theme of the season, it punctuates the frames for a multitude of possible styles and ways of being worn. A jewellery chain, ultra-feminine, an implicit fashion statement and a resolutely CHANEL allure… and moreover very practical!

Available in three solar frames (the same goes for the optical versions) – round, square and pantos (a combination of round and oval) – they are adorned with a metal link chain reminiscent of those that the seamstresses slip into the linings of jackets to ensure an impeccable drop. I have always loved this detail at CHANEL.

On certain versions, which will be the bestsellers, they come as a trio of chains: metal links, woven with leather and beaded. They reinterpret the idea of both an item of jewellery and an accessory, focusing on versatility to accentuate their fashionable design. Attached to the temples with a discreet link, they become a necklace when the glasses are not being worn on the face.

Then there are the Cruise 2019 show pieces. Sporting maritime influence, I love to get such a bold pair of sunglasses: as round as boat portholes, they play with pop block colour. Their intensely blue lenses really show the world… in blue.

Karl and Suzy have already been wearing them… and probably you soon, too.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © CHANEL, © Sandra Bauknecht and via Instagram @suzymenkes

Chanel Reincarnation

01-Pharrell Williams & Cara Delevingne - Reincarnation by Karl Lagerfeld - picture Karl Lagerfeld_LD

I am so excited as I will be leaving this Sunday to Salzburg following Chanel‘s invitation to watch their upcoming Paris-Salzburg 2014/15 Métiers d’art collection that will be presented on December 2nd, 2014 in the Austrian city. To celebrate this occasion, Karl Lagerfeld created a video-clip with the title “Reincarnation” (watch the trailer at the end of this post).

This new short film was the perfect opportunity for Karl Lagerfeld to develop an artistic collaboration with Pharrell Williams, a close friend of the House and personal friend of the designer. In fact, the artist composed and wrote the lyrics to “CC The World“, the original soundtrack for Reincarnation, and he also played one of the lead roles and will be, along with Cara Delevingne, the face of the upcoming campaign of the Paris-Salzburg 2014/15 Métiers d’art collection.

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Once again Karl Lagerfeld had imagined an episode from the life of Gabrielle Chanel. Embodied by Geraldine Chaplin, Gabrielle Chanel is holidaying in the suburbs of Salzburg in 1954. At her hotel she meets a young lift-boy played by Pharrell Williams who wears a jacket which would later inspire the iconic CHANEL jacket.

It was time to show the origins of the CHANEL jacket, inspired by the one worn by the lift attendant in a hotel near Salzburg in the 1950s (…) Reincarnation is the story of a lift attendant’s jacket being reincarnated as a timeless piece of women’s wear,” declares Karl Lagerfeld.

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Reincarnation is also the evocation of another era, that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which Karl Lagerfeld brings to life for one night in the heart of the 1950s.

Karl Lagerfeld adds: “None of this would have been possible without Pharrell Williams, Cara Delevingne and Geraldine Chaplin. It’s the perfect cast. Pharrell is a genius and Geraldine at her best in the role of Gabrielle Chanel in the year of her comeback.”

Reincarnation will be screened in Salzburg on December 1st, 2014 the night before the Paris-Salzburg 2014/15 Métiers d’art show and I couldn’t be happier to be there to watch it live. Stay tuned for more…

LoL, Sandra

Photos and Trailer: © Chanel

The Little Black Jacket – Edition 2013

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In 2012, Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld joined forces to curate ‘The Little Black Jacket: Chanel’s Classic Revisited’, which presented stunning photographs of stylish celebrities boasting their interpretation of Chanel‘s timeless and iconic black jacket. Over the last year, the book and exhibition were celebrated in cities across the globe.

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Some of those photos were even the inspiration for Karl Lagerfeld’s artwork Fire Etchings, presented at Galerie Gmurzynska in February 2013 in St. Moritz.

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This year, a new expanded edition of the book will go on sale (Steidl, Göttingen, 2013, 280 pages. Available in selected bookstores, €78).

For this occasion, Karl Lagerfeld has once again focused his lens on twenty or so international celebrities and close friends of the House, including Keira Knightley, Diane Kruger, Carla Bruni and Carole Bouquet. The photo shoot took place in Paris in the couturier’s studio in January 2013. Taking time out from their busy schedules, the celebrities all enthusiastically reinterpreted the little black jacket in their own inimitable style. Once more Karl Lagerfeld illustrates the universality of the Chanel jacket, one of fashion’s most legendary and timeless pieces.

Here is a sneak preview of how stunning Diane Kruger looks in it:

Kruger Diane -The Little Black Jacket CHANEL's classic revisited by Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld

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The exhibition is at the moment in Milan and opening next in Dubai on April 27, 2013. For more information, please click here.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Chanel