_Chanel at Dover Street

_Some of you may remember me blogging about this back in June, but its only recently that I found good images of the exhibition/installation from Dover street. So even though it was only on store for 3 weeks - I thought I'd put them with the feature on it from 'Wallpaper*' magazine - Enjoy.

"To mark the arrival of the Metiers d’Arts Paris-Londres Collection, Chanel will be available, from today until 26 June, at London’s Dover Street Market.

This is particularly newsworthy for, although Comme des Garçon’s London store has already become the prize positioning for otherwise-hard-to-come-by brands like Pierre Hardy, Azzedine Alaïa and Ganyru, Chanel is notoriously precious about guarding their distribution (the ready-to-wear collection is only ever sold through Chanel boutiques and Chanel concessions, bar one exception when some pieces were sold at Colette back in 2003).

The Metiers d’Arts Paris-Londres Collection was shown at a special fashion show in London in December at the Phillips de Pury headquarters in Victoria. The collection is a special showcase for the decorative crafts of the Parisian ateliers that have worked with Chanel for decades (and that the company have recently acquired): Desrues the costume jewellers, Lesage the embroiderers, milliner Michel, feather artisan Lemarié, cobbler Massaro, floral designer Guillet, and silversmith Goosens.
As breaking their rules about distribution is such a major move for the brand, the collections arrival is anything but low key, more of an total invasion and a complete integration into the entire store, from Rose Bakery right at the top right down to the shop windows on Dover Street. A special visual team from Paris, who normally work on the fashion show sets, have left their mark throughout the store.

The Artek chairs that normally bedeck the café have been replaced with the spindly chairs that mimicked dressing room chairs topped with coat hangers with intertwining C’s, first made for the show. The magazines (including Wallpaper*) have been brushed aside for two weeks and replaced with an entire library of tomes on Chanel. The view from the roof terrace is now a billboard, on an adjoining roof, featuring a pink Eiffel Tower with a life-size cut out of Karl Lagerfeld (a further 20 are distributed through out the store).

Also on Four is a bag and fragrance bar, featuring limited edition bags in Union jack patterns. The third floor features a corner with jewellery made by Desrues the costume jewellers including a jewelled vest that will set you back 30,000 pounds. The second floor has a selection of men’s knitwear and on one there are the adorable bowler hats (watch them be the first to sell out).

Downstairs, Chanel have built a little French house complete with TV aerial and chimney. The maison comes with a stall set up outside, under a white awning with a fabulous collection of accessories and jewellery, including belts with the houses intertwining C’s in Union Jack enamel and earrings with tiny red Routemaster buses. Apparently Mademoiselle Chanel herself used to have stall tables outside her Paris store selling perfumes.

The whole thing, brilliantly done of course, seems completely at home amongst the avant-guard merchandise of Comme des Garçons, Junya Watanabe and Christopher Kane - which illustrates the depth of the allure and appeal of Chanel."