Chanel’s Dramatic Palais Garnier Show Brings Michelle Williams, Naomi Campbell to the Opera
Chanel dialed up the drama for its latest couture collection, moving the show to the gilded halls of the Palais Garnier. With guests perched on red velvet opera chairs lining the grand hallways, it made for a theatrical setting.
It was Michelle Williams’ first time attending a couture show, and she described the experience in poetic language that she compared to getting into character for a role or real life.
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“It made me think of who you are before you step into a public space,” she said. “You think about entrances and exits — it makes me think about my work, it makes me think about preparation, and everything that it takes for that moment when you cross that threshold.”
The ceiling above the runway was covered in a deep red, reflexive plexiglass, and the seating chart meant Williams could see models from above before they hit the top of the staircase.
“I had this other perspective of her rising, then I was thinking about how angles can change how somebody experiences a moment,” she said, though she added that she has no plans to direct.
“It was led with a song about sympathy and love,” she said, referencing Rare Bird’s 1969 song “Sympathy” with impactful lyrics: “Half the world has all the food, while the other half quietly starves because there’s not enough love to go around.”
“The music embodied not just this moment, in this building, with these clothes, but the world at large,” she said. “The combination of these things is a piece of theater.”
Williams knows a bit about theater herself — she made her Broadway debut in “Cabaret” and said she has just signed on to do a play at the beginning of next year, news to be announced.
Self-professed “Chanel girl through and through,” Camila Morrone viewed the models from above with the same perspective as Williams. She was moved particularly by the traditional last look of the bride, when the music went silent as she ascended the stairs.
“It was an overwhelming sensation. I feel like all of the senses were tapped into, even hearing the beat of the footsteps walking up the stairs was a really powerful and dramatic moment,” she said.
The actress has a history with Paris as her dad lived here in his youth, and declares it her favorite city in the entire world. “Especially on days like this where you get to celebrate something that is so Parisian, and so French, like Chanel.”
A move to Paris “is one of the biggest dreams of my life,” she said, but for now, she had just an hour before she needed to be back on the Eurostar to return to London to film “The Night Manager.”
Kerry Washington spent the morning getting ready with WWD. “I came in from Disneyland Paris, and the traffic was insane,” she said. “So my glam team did this in no time.”
“Disneyland was amazing, but it was not as magical as this. It comes pretty close, but this is like Disneyland for real artists and fashion,” she said. Washington was chatting with fellow guest Greta Gerwig, who recommended returning for a ballet.
Washington has also been just a train ride away in the U.K., filming the new “Knives Out” installment through the summer. But her most important work will be in the fall, when she hits the road ahead of the U.S. presidential election.
“I do some travel regionally supporting grassroots organizations all over the country that are working to empower communities and remind them of their political power,” she said. “That’s where my focus is going to be.”
A shining Naomi Campbell was fresh from the opening of her wardrobe exhibit at the V&A museum in London. She recalled the first time she visited the Palais Garnier. It was 1986, when she was 16 years old and on one of her first photoshoots.
“This is a special, nostalgic place to me,” she said. “Being here and the energy — Chanel just hit it today.”
Deciding what clothes to put in the V&A exhibit was another nostalgic experience, she said. “It was quite emotional. A lot of memories come up of looking at garments that were made on you, for you,” she said. However, she still has more stored away. She will switch some out during the exhibit for a rotation, or plan for another show at a later date, she said.
As for the rest? They’re stored, and her daughter is not quite at the “playing dress up” stage quite yet.
“She’s at the stage of digging into my makeup, and she can put on some shoes too — but she’s putting on the flat shoes, still not the heels yet,” she said. “But it’s just a matter of time. It’s all there.”
The apparently very starry Eurostar also brought over Keira Knightley for the show, who arrived the night before and hit up The Hemingway Bar at The Ritz for an Old Fashion cocktail. “I don’t normally drink, then I slightly regretted it this morning. But it was excellent at the time,” she joked.
The actress said she read a lot of Hemingway in her 20s, but with two kids now can barely get through a few lines of a book without falling asleep. “But my youngest is four, so I reckon I’ve got another two years and then maybe I’ll be able to read again,” she said.
Scripts are still in the mix, though, and she’s just wrapped “Black Dove” costarring Ben Whishaw. It’s a revenge thriller with an assassination plot, politics and spies. “There are a lot of fight scenes, and a lot of blood,” she revealed. She’s spending the summer “doing children” before starting another thriller in September.
“They’re quite fun, and I’m going for that right now,” she said.
Sadie Sink has hit a few Chanel shows, but expressed awe at the setting and looks. “This is probably my favorite that I have ever been to. There’s just a certain level of opulence — it’s the most remarkable setting,” she said. The actress took a guided tour of the historical opera house a few years ago and got to learn the history of the building, which gave her an added appreciation for the collection full of capes and gowns, she said.
She’s working on the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” at the moment and happily taking a fashion break from the ‘80s looks.
“A mullet I can get behind, but, in my personal opinion, I really can’t get behind some of [the looks]. It’s perfect for the show, but the acid washed jeans — why?” she joked, preferring her crisp white Chanel suit.
The highly anticipated last season is a secret even to the cast, she said. “We’re not even sure how it is going to end. They’re kind of keeping everything locked down. We have no clue,” she said. “I’m gonna be emotional once we get closer to [the end]. But for now, I forgot how much work it is because we shoot for very long hours. So people should be patient and it will be worth it.”
“Shogun” star Anna Sawai went big for her very first fashion show, ever. “Everything after is going to be disappointing. I had to start with Chanel, there’s no going up from here,” she joked.
The brand took her to the 19M atelier the day before the show, where she got to witness the artisans at work, such as sewing beads onto a dress. (Morrone said she also visited 19M, a Chanel rite of passage.)
“I now know all the time and effort and energy that goes into one material, and it was amazing getting to see all these things,” she said. An artisan told her that one small, hand-stitched piece took 18 hours.
Will it influence her red carpet dressing? “From now on, I’m gonna get the most intricate, detailed thing that I can find,” she said.
She was in a much more simple shorts and tank set for the hot summer afternoon, before she heads off to Australia for five months to film the second season of the AppleTV+ series “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” with Kurt Russell.
Her character has a special relationship with Godzilla, but she expressed a different preference. “I love the fluffiness of King Kong,” she said.
At the last Chanel show, singer Olivia Dean had revealed that morning her headlining slot at the Love Supreme festival in the U.K., and keeping the fashion calendar timing, Dean said she is releasing her new song “Time” on Wednesday.
In between she’s been on tour, and “Time” reflects the struggle and the frustration of being an ambitious woman being pulled in many directions. She promised a different sound for her first single in a year.
“I’m channeling a different energy,” she said. But it’s not about the grind of touring. “I love being on tour, so it doesn’t feel like [a grind]. I love to sing and travel and go to different places. So it’s a labor of love for me.”
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