Chanel took the ancient Egypt to New York City

Chanel Metiers d'Art show, the magnificent collection commissioned by the creative director Karl Lagerfeld in 2002 to celebrate the creativity and craftsmanship on which the brand's DNA is based and to showcase the wonders produced by the fournisseurs of the fashion house, arrives for the first time in New York and transforms the Big Apple into the ancient Egypt. On the catwalk set up inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Kaia Gerber and the other models become modern Nefertiti enchanting the public full of celebrities in opulent gold-covered opulent, flashes of light from the metal wires, fabrics decorated in purple red and blue, blue beetles. A mash-up between NY and Cleopatra's land made of wool tweed, denim jackets, boyfriend pants, mermaid dresses, gold leather boots and a make-up that revisits the famous make-up of the most famous oriental princess in a contemporary way. If you missed the show, here's everything you need to know.

Location

Kaiser Karl wanted as the setting for the collection one of the most recognizable symbols of ancient Egypt: the Temple of Dendur inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Commissioned during the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar around 10 BC, in 1963 was removed from its original site in the plain (where now is located Aswan dam) and donated to the United States by the Egyptian government in recognition of the country's support to the UNESCO International Campaign to save the monuments of Nubia and given to the prestigious New York museum in 1967. To make the atmosphere even more real, Chanel surrounded the archaeological find with papyrus bushes.

Inspiration

Since the tomb of Tutankhamun with all its treasures was brought to light in November 1922, Egypt and its pharaohs have kept inspiring fashion designers, including Lagerfeld, who for the lastest Chanel collection created a mash up between the great splendor of the ancient Egypt, with gold as the absolute protagonist on accessories and garments, and the architecture of the American metropolis, evoked by the repetition of geometric shapes and more contemporary details such as the denim jacket or perfecto. Despite these street references, the one that triumphs over everything, wrapping and tying each look together, is a certain Hollywood vision of ancient Egypt that transforms all models into novels Elizabeth Taylor, legendary Cleopatra in the 1963 homonymous colossal directed by Joseph Mankiewicz. Like the many extras on the set of Cinecittà, the girls wear skirts that imitate the Egyptian shendyt; dresses that with their golden stripes pay homage to the iconic Tutankhamun death mask; thin ivory gauze tubes up to the ankles, like the kalasiris of Cleopatra and her maids; tweeds full of shimmering gold threads that Kaiser Karl calls, with a play on words, Luxe Or. Someone sees, among the many references in this collection, also Walk Like an Egyptian, the hit by The Bangles, honored with a series of prints that evoke the streets of Alphabet City and the subway of New York during the 80s, reinterpreted by contemporary French artist Cyril Kongo.

Front Row

Every Chanel fashion show is an event, especially the Métiers d'Art. In the front row, this time, there are all the stars of the Hollywood scene and fashion: Penelope Cruz, Margot Robbie, Julianne Moore, Marion Cotillard, Lily-Rose Depp, Sofia Coppola, Caroline de Maigret, Helena Christensen and Christy Turlington. While on the catwalk shines, in a Tutankhamun version, Pharrell.

Best Look