Chanel Haute Couture Fall 2009
Chanel Haute Couture Fall 2009

PARIS, Jul 8, 2009 / FW/ — The finale at Chanel was a bride and groom coming out of a gigantic Chanel No 5 bottle reminded me of a line in Daphne du Maurier’s book ‘Rebecca’ where speaking as the young Mrs. De Winter, Maurier wrote, “if memories are like perfume, that it could be bottled and when you want to re-live that moment, you just open the bottle and it is like living the moment all over again.”

To a woman, getting married is one of those moments and if you are wearing Chanel haute couture, the more you want to re-live that moment over and over again.

Yet, even in this grandness and faced with the very loyal Chanel clientele, Karl Lagerfeld sent out a somber Fall 2009 haute couture collection, which subliminally reminded everyone that the world is still in recession but it is not an excuse to look dowdy.

In the long history of Chanel, the house survived two world wars and the 1930s Great Depression; there is no reason to believe that it will not survive this recession. And as already mentioned by Suzy Menkes of the New York Times, “…for every couture house that fades away or reaches for a more abstract fashion vision, Chanel increases its roster of wealthy women searching for a winning wardrobe.”

And somehow, Karl Lagerfeld toning it down this season just hit a perfect pitch among the clients and the fans.

[SARA CONDE]

Paris Haute Couture Fall 2009