Chanel Haute Couture SS'14

There was not one pair of skyscraper heels in sight on the Chanel Haute Couture runway in Paris last week. Instead, Karl Lagerfeld, clearly embracing the current sports luxe and streetwear trends, dressed every single one of his 65 (mighty grateful) models in trainers. Trainers? Chanel? Yup… You heard that right.  Trainers.

These were however, not just any trainers… These were Chanel trainers.  Created byChanel’s shoe-making atelier Massaro, the luxe embroidered, metallic and bejeweled footwear were worn with candy coloured corseted gowns and shimmering, iridescent flapper-style feathered dresses. The result was a cool, yet elegant aesthetic.  I'm game.

Cara Delevingne made the perfect run(a)way bridechiller, complete with her own little page boy, Hudson Kroenig, to hold her train. 

HAWT: Alexa Chung in Chanel

Hawt = A late 1940's and early 1950's acronym for "Having A Wonderful Time."
Now the word is used on the internet as slang for something reeeeally hot.

 Ooh La Lexa… This week Alexa Chung left a muddy Glastonbury for a beautiful Paris to attend the Chanel Haute Couture Autumn/Winter’13 show at the Grand Palais.  The presenter/DJ looked très chic in a midnight blue velvet mini-dress with black lace Victoriana style high neckline and delicate sleeves.   Black and navy is my favourite colour combination, one Alexa regularly wears on the front row, this time completing her stylish look with a small classic Chanelshoulder bag and a pair of triple buckled black Mary-Janes (which would look hideously unflattering and terribly un-HAWT on anyone else aside from Alexa!)

SS'13 Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

Ooh la laaaa… For five days a year, a few selected designers present some of the most beautiful and otherworldly creations during Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week.  Haute Couture means ‘High Fashion’ in French and the ultra-luxe, super detailed pieces are made on an individual basis (for those that can afford it!)  Last week Christian Dior, Giambattista Valli, Jean Paul Gaultier and Maison Martin Margiela all showed their latest haute couture creations but it was the glitteringly elegant Elie Saab dresses and the floaty, intricate Chanel collection which really caught both my eye and imagination...

Described as an 'Ode to Delicacy,' the Elie Saab SS’13 Haute Couture show in Paris (above and below) was utterly breathtaking.  Totally timeless and totally dreamy.

And speaking of dreamy… Beaded and sequined Chanel Couture gowns glided down a forest-styled runway filled with Coco Chanel’s favorite flower, the camellia.  The traditional wedding finale was also anything but ‘traditional’ with two brides walking, hand in hand, down the runway together – perhaps Karl Lagerfeld's stand against the thousands of Parisians who recently marched in protest against the legislation of same-sex marriage? 

I loved the striking red bejeweled pouts at the Christian Dior show (below left) and the extreme false lashes at Chanel (below right)  which resembled dark, feathered tears.