Chanel's Métiers D'Art Show: Sailors and Symphony

After Paris, Rome, and Salzburg, the French fashion house staged its annual Métiers D'Art show within the futuristic walls of the Elbphilharmonie.

For his 2017 Chanel Métiers d’Art show, Karl Lagerfeld had something of a homecoming in Hamburg. The German designer, and creative director of the French fashion house, was born in the city in 1933. Opting out of somewhere more nostalgic, Lagerfeld co-opted the new Herzog & de Meuron-designed Elbphilharmonie, turning a live symphony into a soundtrack to his runway.

Chanel ambassadors Lily-Rose Depp and Kristen Stewart sat front row per usual, with the record-breaking attendees (1,420 guests) filling in the seats behind and around them on the 360-degree balconies. As the Métiers d’Art show is meant to highlight the highly-skilled artisans of the brand’s specialist ateliers, guests were given opera glasses to enhance their view.

Always one to imbue the location into the collection, Lagerfeld’s designs drew heavily on sailor-inspired suiting and dockworker uniforms. Each model was outfitted in a sailor cap, too, alluding to Elbphilharmonie’s home on a former dock overlooking the Elbe river.

Citing the homecoming and Lagerfeld’s age as reasons, some have speculated that this is the designer’s swan song before retirement — though Chanel has said that he's already working on couture. Check out a few of our favorite looks from the collection below.

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