Exclusive sponsor of the Grand Palais, whose renovation it financed, Chanel is once again able to invest the premises, recently reopened on the occasion of Paris 2024. All eyes will be on Chanel’s show on October 1, as the revelation of its future artistic director is eagerly awaited.
Women’s Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2025 kicks off in Paris on September 25, but all eyes will be on one iconic fashion house: Chanel.
In addition to the name of a new artistic director, most likely to be announced during the Parisian high mass following the abrupt departure of Virginie Viard last June, the Fashion Planet will be scrutinizing with extreme attention the return of the Chanel catwalk show, on October 1 under the glass roof of the Grand Palais.
After a thorough three-year facelift, the Grand Palais will once again open its doors to the silhouettes of the Maison de la rue Cambon, which has been its exclusive patron since 2018. Prior to this, the historic monument inaugurated for the 1900 Universal Exhibition, had already been thrust back into the spotlight on a global scale, with the fencing and taekwondo events during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Incredible fashion shows
During the work stoppage, Chanel, which had been staging its over-the-top seasonal shows at the Grand Palais since 2005, had temporarily relocated to the Grand Palais Ephémère, set up on the Champ de Mars at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, but also to exceptional sites such as the quays of the Seine for Autumn-Winter 2023-24 Haute Couture.
The question on everyone’s mind is the possibility of a reunion with the incredible spirit of the shows imagined in Karl Lagerfeld’s era. All the happy few who attended a Chanel show in the Kaiser’s time have their say.
Each time, it was a magical moment, with spectacular creations housed in… the masterpiece of Art Deco architecture that is the Grand Palais. Like Christmas ornaments on a mantelpiece, Chanel brought the most incredible decorations into the glass roof of the Grand Palais. A carousel with old-fashioned wooden horses, a giant supermarket with CC cereal boxes, an Eiffel Tower, an ocean liner moored under the glass roof, an airport concourse, a rocket taking off… Chanel made the saying “Impossible is not French” its own.
That is, until the Kaiser’s final Autumn-Winter 2019-20 show, two weeks after Karl Lagerfeld’s death, on February 19, 2019: the models had then evolved under the snow in a picturesque village in the Alps…
The new chosen one?
Lately, Chanel’s sets – Virginie Viard era – have been in the designer’s image: more discreet than in the era of the whimsical Kaiser. Like this immaculate minimalist catwalk for Spring-Summer 2021 (the show was, admittedly, taking place in the midst of a pandemic and in a digital format) or this sober bookcase with geometric lines, reminiscent of the one that belonged to Coco, for Autumn-Winter 2019-2020 Haute Couture.
Which new page will the newly elected designer open? The suspense remains, although Bruno Pavlovsky, President of Chanel’s fashion activities, said he hoped to “occupy the Nave with just the right amount of audacity, because that’s important, but without trying to rival Karl’s extraordinary work”.
“We’ll try to find the right tone for today, and the eventual arrival of a new artistic director will no doubt have an impact on the way we use the Grand Palais,” he added.
To recapture this “right dose of audacity”, some thought that designer Simon Porte Jacquemus might be the obvious successor to Virginie Viard. The very playful and spectacular spirit that inspires his own fashion shows, ephemeral installations and other communication levers, could resurrect, on a fresher note, the legacy of Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel…
But we’ll have to wait and see if the owners of the illustrious House have judged the shoulders of 34-year-old Simon Porte broad enough to support the rue Cambon monument…
Extended partnership with the Grand Palais
What is certain, however, is that the next fashion show will provide the opportunity to turn the spotlight on the extension of the partnership between the Maison de Couture and the Grand Palais.
Since 2018, Chanel had already injected 25 million euros into the renovation and upgrading of this historic building.
Its metal framework and walls were repainted, its mosaics typical of art deco and its works of art restored, while elevators were added to facilitate movement. But the adventure doesn’t stop there. Chanel has just generously added another 30 million euros to its budget for the next five years, this time for artistic programming.
In other words, a multi-disciplinary menu, which “will blend fine art with contemporary art, festivities and live performances”, announced Didier Fusillier, President of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux and the Grand Palais. After the Chanel show, the first events expected to take place are Art Basel Paris (October 16-20, 2024) and an exhibition by the Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota, known for her installations of interwoven woollen threads, from December 11, 2024 to March 19, 2025.
Endowment fund
“The Grand Palais is an incredible dream machine. For us, it is one of the places that embody the House of Chanel, in the same way as the Rue Cambon or the Place Vendôme”, emphasized Bruno Pavlovsky, President of Chanel’s fashion activities ”We are proud to continue our commitment to this important cultural player in the capital. The transformation of the Grand Palais will have a major impact on the influence of Paris and France. Like the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Palais will span the centuries.”
In addition to the Grand Palais, Chanel, via its endowment fund,also counts on other partnerships with emblematic cultural sites in Paris, such as the capital’s fashion museum, the Palais Galliera or the Opéra national.
In a recent interview with Le Figaro, Bruno Pavlovsky reiterated that he has “no art collections to promote, no interest in acting on the art market”, but that he has “always been and will remain a patron of culture, so that Paris shines”.
Entrance to the nave named “Gabrielle Chanel”
Chanel has certainly left its indelible mark on the Grand Palais. Last April, during a “site visit” attended by Emmanuel Macron and Culture Minister Rachida Dati, the entrance to the Nave was christened “Gabrielle Chanel”, and a plaque bearing the name of the House’s founder was laid to mark this strong symbol.
“Over the past four years,what you have succeeded in doing, and what we are celebrating here today, is absolutely unique,” said the French President at the time, who wished ‘to thank all the companies, the journeymen, the apprentices and the employees from all over the country who took part in this historic project’.
“The name Chanel is now part of the history of the Grand Palais. Through this name, we honor the artistic directors of this house, Karl Lagerfeld and Virginie Viard, Gabrielle’s heirs, who have presented so many fashion shows within our monument and have thus contributed to giving it a worldwide aura. Fashion is one of the cultural and creative industries that the Grand Palais has celebrated since its creation”, emphasized Didier Fusillier, President of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux and the Grand Palais.
What about the Grand Palais Ephémère?
A number of questions remain unanswered before the next Chanel show.
In addition to the long-awaited name of the new artistic director, there are questions about the future of the Grand Palais Ephémère. A controversy has arisen between supporters of the original concept of the Espace, i.e. its dismantling before November 30, 2024, as initially planned, and those who would like to see it play out for longer.
In the camp of the former are Champ-de-Mars neighborhood associations, who blame the building’s drawbacks (blocked view of the Eiffel Tower and environmental degradation) and Paris City Hall. In an interview with Le Parisien, Patrick Bloche, Anne Hidalgo’s first deputy (PS), confirmed that the Champ-de-Mars would “soon regain its garden and its view of the military academy.”
But Olivier Ginon, CEO of GL Events, the building’s concession holder – and supplier of 80% of Paris 2024’s ephemeral installations – pleaded in the daily Les Echos for a reprieve for the 10,000 m2 building, born of the association of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux (RMN)-Grand Palais with Paris 2024. Designed by Wilmotte & Associés, the building’s bay windows offer a sumptuous view of the Eiffel Tower. In July 2023, LVMH announced its participation as a premium partner of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Having hosted numerous events, notably artistic ones, since the summer of 2021, it would be, according to the CEO of GL Events, an ideal setting to act as an interim during the construction of several key artistic and economic venues in the capital: the Centre Pompidou, which will be closed for renovation for five years, the Palais de Tokyo, undergoing works in 2026, and finally, halls 2 and 3 of the Porte de Versailles Exhibition Centre from 2025 to 2027…
Will Anne Hidalgo, who would so much like the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower to last until the next Games, be moved by the fact that the Grand Palais Ephémère was home to the 2024 judo, Para Judo and wheelchair rugby events?
After all, the Eiffel Tower was scheduled to disappear 20 years after the Universal Exhibition that gave birth to it…while André Malraux, the Minister of Culture at the time, envisaged the creation of a major cultural center in the 1960s. In this context, the great architect Le Corbusier simply planned to demolish the Grand Palais. Fortunately, the Nave has been listed as a historic monument since 1975, and the entire building since 2000…
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Read also > Chanel: who to write the House’s new creative page?
