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Chanel showed its fall 2016 collection in Paris today, signaling a near end to fashion month. Following Sunday's Balenciaga reveal and Monday's "surprise, it's couture!" Saint Laurent show (potentially Hedi's last), the Tuesday Chanel show felt welcomingly calm. Karl Lagerfeld at the helm, the usual Grand Palais location, and Kendall on the runway. Business as usual.
The clothes, too, weren't terribly surprising. A total 93 looks walked the runway, which was stripped down and pared back from the wild sets of seasons past to mimic a couture fashion show (though, to be clear, this was the ready-to-wear collection). Guests sat in delicate gold chairs, everyone with a front row view.
The show opened with house classic tweed skirt suits in hot pink, denim, and chalk-striped black patterns. Skirts hit to the knee, punctuated by fanciful riding boots in outfit-matching fabrics. The palette evolved though the show to include a rainbow of pretty pinks, ochre yellow, and a neon peach hue before melting into ornate lace and ruffled dresses. Near-couture levels craftsmanship was evident in some of these more lavish dresses; meta design references were carried down to handbags mimicking golden spools of thread (slide 88).
Lagerfeld flexed his modernity with the Chanel take on the hoodie, modeled by — who else — Kendall Jenner. See that look (slide 52) and everything else Chanel has cooking for fall 2016 in the gallery above.