Chanel Fall 2016 Ready-to-Wear Collection

What could Karl Lagerfeld possibly do next to top the Chanel airport, the casino, the supermarket, the art fair, the Zen garden, the Roman movie set—or that mind-boggling time he had a chunk of iceberg trucked to the Grand Palais? Put in some white carpet and put out the little gold chairs, it transpired. Perhaps Lagerfeld is tired of everyone psychoanalyzing his sets—or maybe it’s yet another of his comments on the state of play in the world. So here we were, everyone in her own front row seat, watching models file by in the Fall 2016 Chanel NON-set set.

This, of course, is the way collections were shown to clients in couture houses way before catwalks were invented—so in a sense, this was both a down-to-earth presentation fit for the “real” mood that’s sweeping through Paris fashion right now as well as a reminder of Chanel’s heritage.

You couldn’t call it no-frills, though—because there were frills, chiefly falling in a froth of tiers on a short white lace trapeze dress with a camellia and a black ribbon tied in a bow at the neck. In other words, classic Chanel at its most delightful, and yet also speaking to a trend of the moment. It came somewhere toward the end of the collection, which Lagerfeld refused to explain—over-intellectualization of fashion is his bête noire. What appeared to be a vaguely equestrian theme gave form to leather-brimmed boaters with a dangling strap at one side, riding boots, and, later, khaki mackintoshes. The tweed suits passed by intercut with denim at one point (maybe a nod to an ’80s collection?), and soon after they were prettily doused in shades of pink. Along the way, there were diamanté Chanel emoji charms thrown in. Still, the main lesson learned? The return of the power of the Chanel pearl necklace, worn in piles. The more the merrier—quite literally.