Show Notes: Chanel Cruised Down The Monte Carlo Coast For Its Resort 2023 Show
Held at the Monte-Carlo Beach Hotel, Virginie Viard put us all in a glamorous vacay mood.
Monte Carlo in Monaco on the French Riviera is more than just a location for Chanel's Cruise 2023 collection. It is filled to the brim with nostalgia, glamour inspiration, royalty and memories for creative director Virginie Viard.
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Monte Carlo itself was a big inspiration for Viard this season.
“To me, Monaco is a matter of feelings above all. That’s Karl, Caroline, Charlotte,” says Virginie Viard referring to the late Chanel creative director, his muse Princess Caroline of Monaco and her daughter Charlotte Casiraghi who is now a house ambassador respectively.
“From very early on, I knew we would hold a show there, and more precisely at the Beach Hotel. Besides, Karl was dreaming about it. From this magnificent venue, one can glimpse his villa, La Vigie. I will never forget the times I spent there: terraces and balconies, big umbrellas, baskets of flowers – so much beauty.”
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Chanel channelled the glitz and glamour of Monaco in the Cruise 2023 collection – and that includes a nod to the iconic Casino de Monte-Carlo in the form of this novelty bag designed as a miniature slot machine.
The result? A collection of summer-ready classics pulled into the current. There's a joyful, cheeky spirit in the air amid sporty silhouettes of short shorts and sequin jumpsuits. Ahead, some of our notes from the runway.
With motorsports as one of Viard's key inspirations for the Cruise collection, racing motifs ala Monaco Grand Prix are aplenty. Cue the starter flags and their checkered patterns are plastered as prints on flowy skirts and dresses, drivers' overalls are refreshed in tweed and sequins, and helmet-shaped purses make a bold statement — but not as much as the helmets themselves do.
Carrying over Chanel's ode to tweed from Fall/Winter 2022. Virginie Viard once again ushers modernity into the woven heritage fabric. Tweed is transformed into sporty sets, complete with sneakers and tennis racquet bags. How are we feeling about tweed mini shorts, everyone?
The key footwear is simple, subtle, yet elevated. Inspired by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo and the dancers' pointe shoes, the must-have shoes worn by most models walking down the runway are a pair of black satin pumps with ruched detail, adorned by dainty thin strass buckles.
A quiet tribute to Viard's predecessor and key muse for Cruise 2023, Karl Lagerfeld, took shape in white high collars tucked under thinly striped long shirt-dresses. These collars are further embellished with sequin and floral embroidered plastrons.
Eyes and cheeks are brightened with swaths of this fruity hue – a happy complement to the sporty collection. Topped off with an equally juicy peach lip, the look is reminiscent of a leisure afternoon under the Monte Carlo sun.