No rest for the wicked(ly fashionable) as joy of a roommate
and I headed off to do this week’s shoot straight after yesterday’s Marks & Spencer casting sesh. We barely stopped to have a bite to eat before pootling
on down to the Palais de Tokyo in the 16th arrondissement.
A mere stone’s throw away from the Champs Elysees, the
Palais de Tokyo is a centre dedicated to modern and contemporary art. It was
opened in 1937 in time for the International Exhibition of Arts and Technology,
but has been re-organised since then, with its most recent configuration being
opened in 2002. Right next to the Seine, the site specialises in the emerging
French and international art scene and is not
a museum (that is, it has no permanent collections and produces all of its own
exhibitions). And, for anyone who is as confused as I was, it is called the
Palais de Tokyo NOT because it has anything to do with Japan but because the street
on which it sits was called the Avenue de Tokio until 1945!
Walking into the centre, you get the impression that you are
inside an old warehouse, which has been completely gutted and then filled with
an array of seemingly random objects. As soon as you realise that some of these
objects are exhibits, you can engage in the ceaselessly enjoyable game “Junk or
art?” Take these lockers, for example, are they there for you to safely store
your belongings, or are they a comment on the way society encourages to
pigeonhole ourselves, to fit ourselves into an easily-identifiable box? Do the
open lockers represent those with the courage to break free?
Ahem. DO excuse me, my parents are art historians. I should
explain the link between this week’s location and the outfit before I get too tiresome...
From May 5th to June 5th, the Palais
de Tokyo are hosting an exhibition on Chanel No. 5 – the inspirations behind
it, the cult surrounding it, and its general components and timelessness. The
exhibition includes artworks, photographs, films, objects and archives which
all acted as inspirations for the perfume and its marketing.
First of all, I ought
to note, that the Palais de Tokyo is strangely difficult to navigate. One of
the (few) drawbacks of designing a gallery which looks like a warehouse, is
that you can’t always tell whether you’re in an exhibition space or a storage
facility. So I think the bit we found housed the whole exhibition – but it’s
hard to say. At any rate, we got to browse around books about the perfume, and
peep into drawers containing dried leaves of some of the plants involved (the
two key ones are rose and jasmine) as well as watching the many television adverts
from the 1950s up to the most recent (and, quite frankly, atrocious) one
with
Brad Pitt.
It seemed only fitting that this week’s outfit ought to pay
tribute to dear Gabrielle’s house so I took some inspiration from Chanel’s
Spring-Summer 2013 Ready-to-wear line. Now, I loved this collection, but I
found it a little confusing – Lagerfeld seemed to jump from the black-and-white
tweed twinsets for which the brand is famous to voluminous, pink-and-blue
checked mini dresses to giant, chiffon, pyjama-like things adorned with
windmills... So I decided to cherry-pick my favourite bits in the hope of
creating an outfit which at least hinted
at Coco gloriousness.
The predominant shape on the runway was the skirt-dress
which I mimicked with this mesh skirt from ASOS. Buuut not having quite the
same sort of figure as these catwalk models, I decided it was best for all
concerned if I used a belt to give me a vaguely human shape and took the
opportunity to add a hint of colour with this soft pink one. Cropped jackets
are all over the place this season and I’ve always thought this H&M one was
quite reminiscent of Chanel. And then I finished off the look with this
beautiful little Chanel bag (a gift from my overly-wonderful-and-generous
cousins ) and lots and lots of pearls.
Ta da! Chanel on a budget, what’s not to love? With that I’m
signing off to go work on my (ever-present) dissertation and wish you all a
very pleasant week. Bisous!
 |
| Skirt as dress - Yumi at ASOS Jacket - H+M Belt - ASOS Shoes -H+M Bag - Chanel (Present) Cuff - Claire's Accessories Earrings - H+M All necklaces are mine/the photographer's own! |
Think this is one of your best so far, girl- très bien fait, pretty sure somewhere up there Coco is smiling. Or, like, grimacing fondly.
ReplyDelete