A Fresh Spin

 Departing the familiar grounds of the Grand Palais, the Chanel fall/ winter 2022-23 haute couture show took place at the Étrier de Paris equestrian centre on the outskirts of Paris. This new venue also provided room for experimentation

- CHLOE CHOU

"COUTURE IS FAMOUSLY not something that is particularly wearable, but this looked like something you could walk, dance, and have a good night in, and I loved that," actor Keira Knightley told Vogue India's head of editorial content, Megha Kapoor, in her post-show reaction to Chanel's haute couture offering in Paris on a midsummer July evening. "I loved the structured shoulders which had a slight curve to them, making them very feminine," she continued. "There's an ease that Virginie has brought to couture. She has the structure, she has the power, but it also has that amazing wearability and ease."What the British actor and Chanel muse succinctly wraps in her reflections is the new direction of couture at Chanel.

Taking off from its usual spot at Grand Palais (where almost every Chanel show has taken place since 2006) creative director Virginie Viard set up camp at the sandy outdoor stadium of the Étrier de Paris. What was once a forest and a royal hunting preserve became the venue for the show and a nod to Gabrielle Chanel's equestrian leanings. To showgoers and fashion purveyors alike, the change in location symbolised a new energy at the house of Chanel.