An anthill. This is the impression that gives to see the super production set up by the house of Chanel on Sunday May 2 at the end of the afternoon, within the Carrières de Lumières of Baux-de-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône ). This is the location chosen by the brand to film its 2021-2022 cruise parade, broadcast on May 4, at 6 p.m. A place chosen carefully.
Exploited for their very fine-grained white limestone, the Quarries were dug over the years to build the village as well as the fortified castle of Baux-de-Provence, erected in the XIe century. Fallen in love with the place, Jean Cocteau came to film scenes from his film The Testament of Orpheus, in 1959. “Gabrielle Chanel was close to Cocteau, and I love the film The Testament of Orpheus. In particular this magnificent scene: a man with the head of a black horse descends in the Carrières de Lumières, his silhouette stands out against the very white walls ”, explains Virginie Viard, artistic director of the brand, in the parade’s intent note.
Walkie-talkie on the belt, dozens of technicians – masked – deploy meters of cables, install the rails which will be used for the traveling shots, test the imposing red crane which rises several meters above the ground… A shrill sound of a drill is heard: a camera is planted in the earthy ground, to be as close as possible to the footsteps of the models who are about to parade. In the blue sky, a drone rises regularly to capture aerial shots. In total, around ten cameras are arranged in this way, so as not to miss anything from the show.
“Once installed in your place, you strike the pose in which you are most comfortable. “ At the microphone, Etienne Russo, the conductor of this high mass, gives his instructions to the thirty models dispatched to the south of France for the occasion. Most are French or settled in Paris, travel restrictions require. The rehearsal for the finale has just started. This closing scene of the show will be reiterated twice, before moving on to the rehearsal of the parade in its entirety. “Follow the indicative line on the ground, and presto, you turn right towards the backstages. Including ? “ Etienne Russo directs the models with precision. Virginie Viard watches this ballet with attention.
Suddenly, calm is felt. The tray empties, and the few guests, “Friends of the house”, take place on a succession of wicker armchairs placed just behind the main camera. We see Vanessa Paradis, Charlotte Casiraghi and her mother, Caroline of Monaco, actress Alma Jodorowsky, singers Angèle and Juliette Armanet or even musician Sébastien Tellier, all scrupulously masked. The show can begin.
T-shirt and charms
“The simplicity, the accuracy, the poetry of Cocteau’s film made me want a very clear collection, a very distinct two-tone, made of bright white and deep black”, indicates Virginie Viard. The sixty-six silhouettes reveal a succession of long black and white dresses, vaporous shirt-dresses, black macramé capes, or even tweed suits trimmed with large braids.
On the feet, the models wear little white ankle boots or pointed silver babies. The sober and sophisticated look gradually gives way to more rock, more punk proposals. We see a leather dress, the tweed skirts are slit and reveal fishnet tights, some white tweed jackets are embroidered with charms, the model Lola Nicon wears a T-shirt with her effigy … “One of my favorite passages is that of the little black dresses, the girls with their capes. I thought it was great rock’n’roll. I love Virginie’s sensitivity, she has a particular way of loving women and their fragility. She sees real qualities in faults ”, tells us, at the end of the parade, the model Caroline de Maigret, ambassador of the house, who came to film behind the scenes of the parade for the Chanel website and the brand’s social networks.
The particularity of this collection? Its commitment to increasingly responsible fashion. “This is a subject that is obviously close to our hearts. We are very committed to the brand as a whole, whether it is green energies or carbon offsetting, explains Bruno Pavlovsky, president of the fashion activities of Chanel, in a small office set up under the Carrières. Equally important is the transformation of our products. We must ensure that the entire production chain meets the eco-responsibility criteria in force. In this collection, out of a hundred fabrics, twenty-eight are entirely eco-responsible, and particularly emblematic fabrics of the house, such as tweed or those developed by the Lesage house. It is an important research work and our teams are fully committed to it. ”
At the end of the afternoon, the sun is slowly declining over the Carrières. “Last take! “, launches Etienne Russo. Now lapped, the models take their place and wait for the kick-off. The show will finally be filmed three times in its entirety, the cameras changing places to be able to multiply the angles of view and facilitate the work of editing that we imagine important.
Instead of the classic parade, deprived of an audience, it is therefore a whole imagery that must be reinvented, with these mini-fashion films. “This crisis has finally given us incredible energy”, says Bruno Pavlovsky. A palpable energy on this Sunday in May, under the sun of Baux-de-Provence.
