Chanel SS14, Paris

Paris, October 2013. Photos & Editing by Park & Cube. Le obviously.

Can we please just pause for a moment and ponder the man with the lone sunflower stalk? I was running ten minutes late and was trotting up a side road to the Grand Palais when I spotted him, leaning on a rake, looking with complete indifference. I stopped and watched him for a while, it was like an abstract performance; and what did the sunflower mean?

The invitation read Chanel Art… and unmistakeably the entire set was decked out in Karl’s faux art pieces: a bucket of bag chain, brightly painted canvases (canvasi?), a giant No.5 robot… The Grand Palais was transformed into a theme park of sorts, and the guests queued for their turn on the ‘rides’, for a #selfie with the art pieces. In fact, it wouldn’t have been surprising if it was possible to collect your photos at the end of the show.

The collection too was an explosion of textures, shapes and colour: pink nylon strips masterfully woven into the bouclé, two-sided mega bibs, paint-palette eye makeup, graffiti’d boy bags… and towards the end, a celebration of the medium, a tipping out of the craft drawer, so to speak – smeared-charcoal skirts, spray-paint stencilled backpacks adorned with colourful ropes… piled on all together of course, Chanel-style. There was no hidden philosophy in the title, it was, quite delightfully, a play with ideas that typically are associated with ‘Art’: galleries, paintings, 3D installations, fabric scraps, paint palette, art school, portfolio. All connected with a bit of Chanel magic and Karl fun – performed at the end by the man himself, who bounced the entire length of the Grand Palais and back, blowing kisses at the audience. I guess I went in expecting a quiz of abstract artistic expression, or a grand nod to some moment in art history, but came out reminiscing my peachy art-school days. I saw the sunflower again on my way out and it was just a happy sunflower. Nothing C’est nes pas un sunflower to it at all.

Chanel SS13 and a forest of wind turbines at the Grand Palais

Now would you just look at that bag.

Chanel Spring-Summer ’13 Paris Fashion Week;

This might be yesterday’s news but seeing as today is Halloween and I’ve already painted my face with cupcake icing and dressed up as a Fashion Blogger, I might as well do the dance too. It so happens that a folder full of unedited photos from the Chanel SS13 show has been haunting me for the past month, and this might actually be the only time I can share before we’re onto a whole other season/collection so far from the ‘now’ (which may or may not cause my brain implode). It was such a beautiful show, words (well, mine at least) really can’t describe the grandeur of the setting. No profound ‘eco-friendly’ message as the wind turbines might suggest, but the underlying theme was fresh air, the sense of clean and refreshing breeze cutting through a thick summer day, which was apparently how the collection came to Lagerfeld this summer. Shorter hems, oversized breezy, strapless, and perfect circles (lucite brim boaters and pearls everywhere) – plus I’m hoping the hula-hoops detach from the bag so it completes the playfulness in lego-shaped accessories.

Hope you’re having a fun Hallowe’en, don’t forget to leave a nice drunk comment when you’re home, you know how much I love hearing from you!

Louis Vuitton SS13 at Paris Fashion Week

Stills screen-capped from official LV show stream

It’s 9:45 and I’ve already stumbled on a few stairs as I make my way up to my seat. I keep having to stop and look back to take it all in – the giant yellow checker-board (that particular yellow from the infamous 70’s smiley face) throws off any concept of scale and the backdrop of quivering mirrors makes the room seem twice longer. By the time I get to my seat I’m slightly dizzy, and hey is that cushion a yellow square too? There’s a whiff of espresso coming from down the row, and the second-hand caffeine fume gives the whole room a bit of sharpening effect. The lights dim and a tune – what I can only describe as ‘a swirly one’ (actually very appropriate with the psychedelic yellow) – awakens the escalators as the first twin plants themselves on a step. The effect is very Diane Arbus-y at first, but in time, the silhouettes and bow-finished beehives bring it all together: shagadelic sixties baby! Well, now all I can think about is Austin Powers and the Fook Mi/Fook Yu twins. A whole collection of squares, even down to the sequins, and not a single monogram in sight – I like it a lot. Plus, my OCD is pleased.  The finale is a delight – the entire collection take up the four escalator installation and glide down like show-curtains – then once the girls roll back up, Marc Jacobs sprints down an escalator dangerously quickly and I imagine what  London Underground safety announcement would be appropriate.

Many thanks to the LV team for the warm welcome!

Ezgi Kiramer (@ezgikiramer) of Turkey

I’m not dead, if you’re wondering, but thanks for the search party – clowns and helium balloons, nice touch! The orange juice tasted like dad’s liquor cabinet though, was it expired? I’m in Paris at the moment running after people that I’m still convinced are fictional and only exist in the likes of Jak & Jil and StreetFSN fairytales, but hey what do you know, when you scream TAYLOR I LOVE YOU!#% she will turn around and also autograph my chesticles with permanent marker. I’ll be right back with full turbo real soon, but in the meantime feel free to check out my streetstyle shots at Editer Tumblr and follow me following Nam around, on Twitter.