by Two proudly distinct cultures collided on Thursday when Chanel’s top-spending international customers came face to face with The Mancunian.
It began on Wednesday when guests arrived for a whirlwind tour of Manchester’s historical and cultural landmarks, culminating in Thursday night’s Chanel Métiers d’Art fashion show.
Indicate mutual curiosity, wonder, and some degree of humor on the part of all parties. Chanel’s high-net-worth fans are used to floating at 35,000 feet in private jets to shows in Miami, St Tropez or Dubai. Finding yourself waiting in the “first” class lounge at Euston station for a crowded and delayed train to Manchester Piccadilly was a whole new level of exoticism.
Big-spending customers who wear head-to-toe Chanel generally have brains that can’t compute discrete words. Gigantic quilted handbags adorned with Chanel’s famous CCs and furry moon boots made their way past coffee-stained counters toward these strange contraptions called ticket barriers.
Although there is no shortage of money in Manchester thanks to its football clubs, numerous memes have played into the city’s plucky side, including: “Will Chanel wine and dine with the billionaires at Greggs?”, “ Will Kim Kardashian be doing karaoke at The Millstone? ” (a traditional pub in the northern part of Manchester). and “How can we ruin the show?”
The answer is this: so far, Kim Kardashian is not a Chanel ambassador. Greggs is also not on the official menu, although some American journalists were keen to visit Manchester’s iconic M&S, the largest in the world. Wednesday’s game between Man U and Chelsea at Old Trafford was another highlight.
“What are they saying?” French journalists, who were among the approximately 160 guests Chanel hosted at the match, repeatedly asked as a section of the crowd chanted “you scoundrel Scouse” at the referee.
In their hotel rooms, nestled among the brand’s usual Chanel toiletries, guests found complimentary boxes of PG Tips and Man U strips with the number 5 (after a certain perfume) on the back.
Meanwhile, if you could access one of the floors above the shops and cafes on Thomas Street, you would have had a panoramic view of the walkway. Chanel took over the entire street, covering it with a glass awning and bringing her own catering to some of the food emporiums.
Before: Crowds gather outside Thomas Street for a night out
After: Celebrities and models descend Thomas Street before the show.
“It’s been amazing to work with Chanel on this,” says Jobe Ferguson, co-founder of bougie Bay Horse Tavern, where Hugh Grant mingled with Kristen Stewart, Sofia Coppola and Alexa Chung before the show began. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Ferguson smiled.
In addition to its glorious rain (which inevitably leads to a massive umbrella shortage), Manchester has been awash with black limousines ferrying groups of bewildered-looking Americans and Southeast Asians from one recently renovated Victorian warehouse to another, as a local tour . The guides regaled them with stories of Cottonopolis (as Manchester was known in the heyday of its textile industry) and its legendary musical heritage, while telling them about Vimto.
Nowadays, when brands go to foreign cities to organize events, they have the honor of contributing not only to the local economy but also to its culture. Chanel has sponsored a free (sold out) exhibition titled ManchesterModern: past, future and present.
The Manchester/Chanel acquisition has been eight months in the planning, in close collaboration with Manchester City Council and several Mancunian celebrities including Jeanette Winterson, poet John Cooper Clarke and Peter Saville, the graphic designer and co-founder of Manchester’s Factory Records. for whom he designed many album covers.
“I think the first person we called was Mayor Andy Burnham,” says Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel’s fashion president. Burnham was unable to attend the program due to a work trip to Japan, but many other officials were able to.
A teaser video on the brand’s social media accounts, directed by Sofia Coppola, celebrates the city’s suffrage, music, football and social justice movements, further polishing the city’s reputation.
Anyone who thought Manchester would be a cheap date for Chanel underestimated the scope of the brand’s vision. It is rumored that some Thomas Street stores were paid between £40 and £50,000 each to make up for lost income while the temporary roof was being built, windows refurbished with Chanel-related merchandise and rehearsals were held. Consider 69 models (17 British, including Mancunian Karen Elson): this will have cost millions.
Putting on the show in Manchester is not as far-fetched as it might seem. During her ten-year relationship with the Duke of Westminster in the 1920s, Coco Chanel spent much time at Eaton Hall in Cheshire and often drove the 36 miles to Manchester to do business with its then-thriving cotton and velvet factories.
But no location in the show is chosen solely for nostalgia or romance. Manchester’s tiny Chanel boutique in Manchester’s Selfridges is said to be one of the busiest per square foot in the world. An independent Chanel shoe boutique (with prices starting at around £800 a pair) is due to open here next year.
The images are going global as you read this and the Chanel Manchester collection will soon debut in 50 countries. Sadly, there are no longer any Manchester fabrics to use, although this collection features many colorful short-skirt suits in Carlisle tweed and Hawico’s Manchester woven cashmere. Some models had short, boyish hair with bangs like New Order’s Ian Curtis and caps with flaps over their ears. These were clothes made for the cold, although most wore flat Mary Janes with bare legs.
Quite an exercise to level up. But who would like to say: for Chanel or for the Mancunians?
More from the program…
