Instantly recognisable as a CHANEL code, the button eases the opening and closing of a garment. Thanks to buttons, women could rid themselves of everything that had prevented them from moving freely. Gabrielle Chanel treated buttons with the utmost respect. Like a jewel, it adds a touch of daring and sparkle to the unique allure of which she was both theorist and artisan.

A symbol of emancipation, Virginie Viard takes this jewel-button into the world of ballet and dance. Here, fashion, music, theatre and painting come together as physical poetry and, touched by grace or wonderment, the performers briefly escape the laws of nature. Beyond the softness of this light and suspended world, the Spring-Summer 2024 Haute Couture collection evokes the great names of dance, from whom it borrows their extraordinary style and affirmation of a triumphant body.

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“I often think about dance, it’s an important theme at Chanel. The House is close to its institutions, to its choreographers and dancers, and we create costumes for the ballet. I have tried to bring together the power and finesse of bodies and clothes in a very ethereal collection, composed of tulle, ruffles, pleats and lace”.

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Thus unfolds a landscape of transparent short straight skirts, long dresses, jumpsuits and little capes embellished with embroideries depicting draperies, little bows, illusion tulle pockets, lace belts, sequins, braids and little flowers. Masculine figures and the beauty of the body give rise to a very feminine collection, worn over white ballet leotards and tights. In a year marked by the vitality of the links that unite CHANEL and dance, a century after Gabrielle Chanel’s first designs for ballet, the pink and white aquarelle-dominated collection owes its touches of vivid colour to the Ballets Russes of Léon Bakst and Sergei Diaghilev. Down jackets in tulle, hoods, the Artistic Director also injects references to contemporary culture, with heels, for added allure.