Lady Grecian 2017: Karl Lagerfeld gives Paris a Chanel toga party

Chanel’s latest show took place in the Grand Palais in Paris – but in Karl Lagerfeld’s hands, it was transformed into an environment more suited to the likes of Plato and Socrates.

To showcase the Modernity of Antiquity – an addition to the collections shown between autumn/winter and spring/summer offerings – the space featured ionic columns, a Greek island sunset as backdrop and an impressive olive tree. The inspiration: the Parthenon and the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion. France may be on the verge of a political shift but Chanel – arguably the jewel in French fashion’s crown – can still be relied on for a blockbuster show.

This collection had the tropes familiar from a childhood trip to the British Museum: Vitruvian scrolls featured on blouses and knitted dresses, there was the black and terracotta colour scheme of Athenian vases and some models wore laurel wreaths. As might be expected, the Midas touch was irresistible: gold dominated as a colour, on everything from a jacket and shorts to embroidery of the double Cs reworked in olive and oak branches on a sweatshirt.

There is some irony in a designer who famously dislikes nostalgia creating a collection inspired by an era from about 2,500 years ago. However, as the show notes said, this was about imaginings rather than historical accuracy. “It had nothing to do with a country,” said Lagerfeld. “Reality is no interest to me. I use what I like. My Greece is an idea.”

Gladiator sandals with ionic pillars for heels sure to smash social media, and witty takes on the tourist raincoat are more 2017 AD than BC. This show is just the latest from Chanel to gain enviable likes on Instagram – there were more 36,000 posts for the relevant hashtag at the time of writing.

Lagerfeld might be 83 but he excels at modern communication. Chanel was recently ranked the top fashion brand on social media, with 21.1million Instagram followers. Long before the app became required viewing, Lagerfeld created a fashion show with an iceberg and one that took the front row on a Chanel-branded aeroplane. A Chanel supermarket in 2014 and a rocket ship this year followed.

Now at the French fashion house for close to 35 years, Lagerfeld still manages to mine Coco Chanel as muse, and not just in the tweed, pearls and logos here.

The inspiration for Wednesday’s show came from a 1922 production of Jean Cocteau’s Antigone. Chanel provided the costumes because the playwright could not “imagine that Oedipus’ daughters would be badly dressed”. They certainly wouldn’t be in this finery. The last section of the show featured goddess dresses worthy of Aphrodite: draped, loose and graceful, with a sugar pink one-shouldered dress particularly memorable.

This is the second time Chanel has chosen to stay in Paris for an event show - with November’s Metiers d’Art collection shown at the newly opened Ritz. This contrasts with Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior - which also show cruise collections this month in Japan and California respectively.

The Grand Palais event was hardly a cost-cutting measure. Chanel has double-digit growth in 2017, Bruno Pavlovsky, it president of fashion, said in an interview with Women’s Wear Daily. The move could instead be interpreted as a way to cement the house’s status as the ultimate Parisian brand - and make the word “Chanel” synonymous with “chic”.

Anaak’s Luxurious, Artisan-Made Collections Are as Sustainable as It Gets

 Designer: Marissa Maximo

Label: Anaak

Instagram: @anaakcollection

Location: Philadelphia—but spends half of the year working with artisans in India and Bolivia

Education: Rhode Island School of Design

Why it should be on your radar: Anaak is the rare fashion label that’s elegant, beautifully made, easy to wear, and sustainable, too—from organic fabrics to the women artisan groups Marissa Maximo employs around the world. Everything is made by hand with natural dyes, and Maximo hopes to empower women by giving them work and keeping their traditional crafts alive in an age of fast fashion.

It’s truly global: Maximo’s passport got a lot of stamps in the early 2000s. As the director of artwork and color at Anthropologie, she traveled to India, Taiwan, China, Indonesia, and South America to develop the brand’s prints by hand—“before everyone used computers,” she says with a laugh. The job introduced her to other cultures and crafts, and as fashion became increasingly hectic in the following years—Maximo also worked for Urban Outfitters during the recession—she felt she wasn’t making a positive impact. “The fast calendar just got really fast,” she says. “At Anthropologie, we had four seasons, then we had six, and then 12, and the disposal of it all was really disheartening. I wanted to make things that matter to the people who wear them.” So she started Anaak in 2015 as the polar opposite to all of that: Natural, organic clothes that harm the earth as little as possible and are socially impactful, too.

Most of the pieces are handmade in small batches by women artisan groups in India; see Fall ’17’s chikankari dress, which features slices of fabric cut and hand-stitched like 3-D embroidery, and the block-printed silks with natural dyes. Every season, Maximo explores new fabrics and finishes: “If there’s a technique I’m interested in, I basically travel to that area and work with the artisans,” she says. “I’ll base my collection off what they’re doing, as opposed to coming in with a preconceived idea of what it will look like. So I usually design on the road.” Also new for Fall ’17: chunky hand-knitted Alpaca sweaters made by artisans in the Andes mountains of Bolivia.

Slow and steady wins the race: Because artisan-made products take much longer to produce, Maximo says it’s difficult to work on a strict fashion calendar. But instead of scrapping the system and doing it her way, she simply works even further ahead. “I try to work a year in advance to develop fabrics,” she says. “That’s been the challenge. I was trained to work so fast and move through ideas so quickly, so it’s been a lesson to work on the DNA of Anaak and take the customer through slowly. With fast brands, there’s no DNA—you’re just reacting to trends.”

Fashion first, sustainability second: “Our success has been about product, not any kind of advertising or branding,” Maximo says. There’s a good chance some of her customers don’t know that Anaak’s clothes are made by artisans, but they still love the way they look and feel. On the other hand, there are probably lots of women who have been searching for something like Anaak—clothes that are elegant, simple, and effortless but also good for the earth and socially conscious. Now, they can stop searching.

Where to find it: Anaak is mainly stocked in specialty boutiques, including Bird Brooklyn and 180 in New York and Ron Herman in Los Angeles. You can find more information at AnaakCollection.com.

How to Wear Head-to-Toe Black? Jessica Chastain Proves It’s All About the Statement Bag

 The pantsuit had a runway resurgence at Alexander McQueen, Céline, and Maison Margiela, and a handful of well-dressed celebrities are taking note. While Cate Blanchett opted for opulence in a modern-day smoking suit and Victoria Beckham put her posh twist to the tan sack suit, Jessica Chastain livened up an all-black look yesterday in New York with one easy piece.

The head-to-toe black ensemble was in line with Chastain’s modern spin on film noir glamour, thanks to satin touches and a ladylike silhouette. But it was the actress’s It bag that did most of the talking. The Louis Vuitton Capucines PM married practicality with a prim-yet-directional touch. The top-handle tote fit all the essentials, while the floral embellishments lifted Chastain’s look squarely into spring.

Kylie Jenner Brings Back Corset Dressing With a Whole New Twist

After spending New York Fashion Week bundled up in cozy fur coats and body-con dresses, earlier today in Beverly Hills Kylie Jenner stepped out in a new twist on a familiar look: the corset. Whereas big sis Kim might have kicked off the craze sporting Givenchy’s version in Cuba, Jenner honed in on the piece’s sensual roots, amping up the boudoir influences.

The taupe Nili Lotan slip silhouette conjured up images of Cher from Clueless, but the addition of the Victorian-era staple elevated it to haute heights. A reworked T-shirt from Jenner’s line with sister Kendall flattered the budding beauty entrepreneur’s lithe physique. And with such a wow-factor dress, Jenner kept accessories to a minimum, grounding her look with Gianvito Rossi’s silver sandals for a glossy finish.

J.K. Rowling Crushes Your Dreams of a Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Movie Trilogy

Curses!

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling took to Twitter Friday to deny rumors that a Harry Potter and the Cursed Child movie trilogy was in the works. She had co-written the play by the same name, set 19 years after the events in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final installment in the hit book and film series. The production opened in London in 2016. The project's script was published as well.

"I know a lot of people are looking for reasons to be cheerful today, but there is NO TRUTH to the rumour about a #CursedChild movie trilogy!" she wrote.

The Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play depicts Harry Potter as a father of three and an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic. As he is haunted by memories of his past, his youngest son Albus struggles with the weight of his family's legacy. None of the Harry Potter film stars appeared in the production.

Last week, theme park journalist and historian Jim Hill signaled on the Unofficial Universal Orlando Podcast that a "trilogy of movies that will be based on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" was in the works.

He also said Warner Bros. had had "conversations" with original stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint "'cause they want this to be, for lack of a better term, Harry Potter: The Force Awakens," per Screen Rant.

Hill later responded to Rowling's denial via Twitter, saying that while he has "great respect" for her and would not "dispute" what she posted, he was quoting info from a source "on the Warner Bros. side of the fence."

"Given what my source here has told me in the past...I'm very confident that what he told me about a Cursed Child film trilogy being talked about at Warners as something that will go into production after the five-part Fantastic Beasts film series wraps," he said.

Warner Bros. released Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, the first movie in a five-part spinoff series, last year. It made more than $802 million worldwide. The eight-part Harry Potter series made more than $7.72 million.

Rumors about the making of just one Harry Potter and the Cursed Child movie began last year. Rowling denied the reports on Twitter in February when a fan asked about them.

In August, The New York Daily News quoted Hollywood sources as saying Warner Bros. was working on obtaining the rights to bring the new sequel story to the big screen as soon as 2010. The studio later said in a statement, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a stage play, with no plans for there to be a film."

In December 2016, Warner Bros. Entertainment filed to trademark the title Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for merchandising purposes.

As for the idea of other Harry Potter sequels, Rowling told Reuters last July that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child would not herald a new phase of stories.

"Harry is done now," she said.