Fashionable ladies of the lake

Chanel displays a collection adorned with Chinese elements in iconic Hangzhou setting.

In an apartment at 31 Rue Cambon in Paris, Gabrielle Chanel decorated her walls with coromandel, Chinese lacquered screens made of ebony wood. One screen on the wall of the study depicts the beautiful scenery of West Lake, Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang province.

Though Chanel herself did not have the opportunity to visit Hangzhou, more than 100 years later, her models strolled upon the resplendent and shimmering West Lake.

In the evening of Dec 3, the French fashion house presented its 2024/25 Metiers d’art collection featuring Chanel dresses with subtle Chinese elements, such as floral and bird patterns, and lotus flowers of West Lake. The fluidity of water is reflected in velvet reworked with Chanel’s signature camellias; delicate pleats evoke the folds of traditional Chinese fans. Materials like silk and lacquer-inspired textures are a nod to the city’s role as a crossroads of tradition and innovation.

Over 1,000 guests attended the show, with about 600 from China — including 100 from Hangzhou — and 400 from other parts of the world. The event commenced with a Chinese drum performance. Notable personalities such as German director Wim Wenders, British actress Tilda Swinton, and Chinese actresses Zhou Xun and Xin Zhilei, among others, arrived at the runway set on the lake by traditional boats crossing the West Lake.

Chanel enlisted Wenders in May to direct a film featuring the actresses.

“Traveling to Hangzhou revealed that one of Chanel’s Chinese lacquer screens was a huge map, an amazingly exact description of the city itself, especially of its most famous attraction. It’s the West Lake area, with hundreds of little bridges and paths zigzagging a big body of water and a vast nature reserve full of wildlife and the richest variety of plants and trees,” says the director.

“It was a real maze, and you could easily lose yourself in it and on it. I love maps and discovering landscapes, so I wrote a story for this enigmatic place and the secret link it had with an early representation of it which is in Paris. I love treating cities and landscapes as active participants of a story. You might have realized how many of my films even carry their places in the titles. Places have a great storytelling power, and I also tried to listen to Hangzhou and the West Lake for their input.”

Swinton says the Chinese lacquer screens serve as an ancient cinema screen of awe-inspiring detail and atmosphere.

“I think the way in which the citizens of the city take such active pride in their environment struck me particularly. When we went out to shoot on the lake at 8 on Sunday morning, there were already many boats out on the water, people looking not unlike their ancestors depicted in Chanel’s Chinese lacquer screens, steering their craft in and out of the water lilies, underneath the willow trees.”