Chanel’s Métiers D’Art 2021 Show Embraces the Dark Side

If we could skim the inside of Chanel’s passport, there’d be no room left for any new stamps, especially if you count the locations for the luxury house’s once-a-year Métiers d’Art spectacle. Past locations have included cities like Mumbai, Hamburg, Paris, New York, and Dallas, a tradition Chanel returns to each year to honor the craftsmanship of the ateliers the Parisian house has worked with over the years. But with France imposing a second lockdown, Chanel was forced to stay home—or at least closer to home.

Two hours outside Paris, Creative Director Virginie Viard presented her second métiers collection against the backdrop of Château de Chenonceau in France’s Loire Valley, also known as Le Château des Dames (which translates to Ladies’ Castle), a building designed by legendary women, many of whom inspired Gabrielle Chanel herself. Devoid of any A-listers in the FROW or an audience, the spotlight was on a small army of models who waltzed down the black-and-white checkered floor, a motif that appeared on sequined skirts and tweed dresses throughout the collection. Viard didn’t stray too far from the monochromatic palette, occasionally juxtaposing powder pink or blue leggings with modern riffs on the stylistic codes at the heart of the brand—tweed, quilting, black-and-white, pearls—or introducing a floral print down the hallway. And then there was Kristen Stewart, the Chanel ambassador and sole guest at the show, who watched from a bench nestled in one of the hallway’s arches. Ahead, every look from the Métiers d’art 2020/2021 collection.