Daily Front Row

2011 December 7

Pre-Fall 2012: Chanel

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Chanel Pre-Fall 0212
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(PARIS) Chanel
Not even the Great Recession can curb Karl Lagerfeld's taste for lavish splendor. The designer upped the opulent factor at Chanel two-fold this season serving up fantastically decadent tabletops set for high tea at the Grand Palaise, complete with gold cutlery, towering fruit trays, and a toy steam boat delivering crystal decanters of scotch. As editrices and a select set of starry guests like Freida Pinto nibbled on sweet treats, models sashayed down the runway in imperial Bombay-inspired getups, bejeweled nose rings, exotic headpieces, jingling leather sandals and, get this, dreads! It was a rare outfit that wasn't festooned with painstaking handiwork--from intricately embroidered metallic saris to pearl-embellished ivory tweeds or black military-esque jackets--all inspired by a palace built for the maharaja of Indore in the 1930s and the archival Indianlike gems of Coco Chanel from the fifties and sixties.