Fashionably Connected was honored to cover the Chanel Fall / Winter 2011 Collection for Planet Fashion TV at Paris Fashion Week in March and the experience was a dream of a lifetime for co-founder Cheryl Bemis, and Fashion Editor, Robin Campbell.
The picturesque day in beautiful Paris made the walk from the apartment to the Grand Palais a most enjoyable experience. You could actually feel a buzz in the air that there was something special going on that morning.
We saw busy doorman helping beautifully dressed women get into limos and cabs and hearing the very word Chanel on the streets of Paris. Chanel. Yes, the iconic brand and grand dame of the fashion world was the buzz of the city. Robin and I were going to the show we spent our lives dreaming of attending.
Paris Fashion Week: Chanel 2011 Fall / Winter Collection
Getting to the Chanel show was the easy part of the journey, getting IN the venue was another story! Between the language challenges, three security check points and nearly succumbing to a major meltdown in front a gorgeous Frenchman, we were saved by an English speaking PR staffer who graciously cleared us to enter the venue.
Finally entering the Grand Palais is something I will never forget. The glass ceilings filled the venue with never ending beautiful natural light, a photographer’s perfect light. The privileged attendees, many dressed head-to-toe in Chanel, entered the building with their hand-written Chanel invitations, all searching for their reserved seat to watch the show. Robin quickly left to make her way somewhere on the front row. You know the saying, just act like you belong!
My fashion high quickly evaporated as I launched into press mode, focused on finding the perfect spot in the press pit to film the runway show. As usual, navigating the press pit was not an easy task, but I managed to find a suitable spot next to the Italian Vogue photographer. As I watched the venue fill with representatives of the world’s fashion elite, I was just praying that all my equipment was in working order. Thankfully, everything went flawlessly, just like the show.
The theme of the show was a dark, misty forest, filled with lava-smoked rocks with a long winding runway capped by Chanel’s traditional CC logo box display. Once the music started both boxes opened and the models walked out though the mist of smoke.
The collection for Fall/Winter 2011 were full of traditional Chanel ensembles sporting embellished jackets, black lace evening looks, feathers, classic tailored trousers and voluptuous ruffled blouses. Hair was styled in a soft messy bun with long bangs that swept along each models brow. Make-up featured a smokey eye with a natural blush and lip color.
As the last model walked into the white mist, Chanel’s legendary designer, Karl Lagerfeld made his appearance on the runway surrounded by his cast of the world’s top models.
As the beautiful people left and the runway fog settled, Robin and I left the Grand Palais, walked back into the bright Paris sunshine realizing that this wasn’t a dream…it was a dream come true.
Cheryl Bemis is co-founder of the Fashionably Connected Network of local fashion web sites and has more than 20 years in the fashion business. Cheryl has been an on-air fashion reporter for radio and television and interviewed many fashion industry icons such as Diane Von Furstenburg, Clinton Kelly of What Not To Wear and Tim Gunn of Project Runway. She also covers New York Fashion Week as a videographer and covers the Austin fashion scene for Fashionably Austin.
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