Practical Magic

Fall under the spell of Virginie Viard's spring/summer 2023 Chanel haute couture collection

- Jeffrey Yan

For her latest haute couture collection, Virginie Viard’s starting point was, as it usually is, drawn from the history of Chanel, the brand and the woman. In this instance, it was Coco Chanel’s apartment on 31 Rue Cambon that served as inspiration. The space housed a veritable menagerie, with various objects, paintings and sculptures depicting lions, doves, stags, birds and camels. These were then brought to life by the artist Xavier Veilhan, in his third collaboration with the brand, who created towering sculptures made of wood, cardboard and paper for the show space—out of which emerged the models in Viard’s spring/summer 2023 couture finery. All the aforementioned animals also appeared on the clothes as intricate embroideries, as did kittens, corgis, rabbits and swallows.