Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 8:45AM By: Cynthia Anderson Nanook'd
Image: Giovanni Gianonni for WWD
Just moments after the Chanel Fall 2010 collection got underway, reports started coming in that all was not business as usual at the Grand Palais in Paris. "A Giant ice berg imported from Sweden!" a few tweets and emails declared, "The models are marching through a giant puddle of ice water!" a few more sounded, and then the words one never expects to see appeared on the twitter feed... "BEARS... at Chanel.... they are dressed like BEARS!"
image: Imax Tree Matteo Volta
It is unlikely that bears were the actual inspiration for Karl Lagerfeld's frozen spectacle, more likely Lagerfeld was the latest in a long line of designers whom draw inspiration from the 1922 silent Film Nanook of the North. Over the years many designers have set their sites on Nanook for their Fall collection, including, most famously Isaac Mizrahi as portrayed in his 1995 documentary film Unzipped, which followed the production of the fall collection and his fixation with the film.
The industry's love of Nanook can be explained by the history of the film itself. Nanook is widely considered one of the first documentaries ever made, and is heralded for it's impressive cinematography and historical significance in film making, despite it's sometimes inaccurate portrayal of the Inuit people.
Thankfully, not every look an outright copy of the 1922 film, in addition to the full-length furs, Lagerfeld put a northern spin on classic Chanel suits as trim tweeds received their own fur touches and details, and party dresses were paired with polar-appropriate boots.
imaxtree: Mateo Volta
Reader Comments (2)
The model in the first photo looks really friggin scared, or maybe embarrassed can't tell which.
the suits look cozy, and at least you don't have to be a size 0 to wear them!