Haute couture has sometimes been referred to as a “secret club”. At Chanel, it’s more like family. Under normal circumstances, “the team travels and connects with customers in about eight or 10 cities around the world,” the house’s president of fashion Bruno Pavlovsky explained on a video call from Paris. “The customers are used to having this full experience. So, how do you recreate this experience through FaceTime, through Zoom? How do you develop images to ensure that customers can feel comfortable enough to order pieces? It’s something we are still learning.” The familial bond that exists between a couture house and its clients – often devoted for life – was the beating heart of Virginie Viard’s second haute couture collection since the pandemic disrupted this most intimate part of fashion, along with the rest of the industry.

“I love big family reunions, when the generations all come together. It’s so warm. There’s this spirit at Chanel today. Because Chanel is also like a family,” Viard said. Captured by Anton Corbijn, the show was staged under a pergola in the Grand Palais with the likes of Penélope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Vanessa Paradis and Lily-Rose Depp in socially distanced attendance. The Chanel ambassadors were also shot for “family photos” in the mythical haute couture salons at 31 rue Cambon – newly redecorated by Jacques Grange. Acquired by Gabrielle Chanel in 1918 as her first modern boutique and fitting space, the building played host to the Golden Twenties, an era forever entrenched in the genetics of Chanel. Viard loosely took her point of departure in that era, no doubt drawing parallels between the post-war and post-pandemic joie de vivre of the 1920s and the reality of the 2020s. The message: hope.