Coco Chanel would have hated my work says Lagerfeld

Chanel’s new Mademoiselle Prive exhibition is fashion’s version of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth; an alternate immersive world where you forget where you are and one that constantly surprises with beautifully designed sets – the Chanel version of Alice in Wonderland.

Also on display at the exhibit are a maze of fabric swathes from the Chanel atelier as well as bubbling cauldrons which open up to reveal the ingredients of the Chanel No. 5 perfume, the first fragrance bearing the name of a designer.

A re-edition of Chanel’s only collection of high jewellery, “Bijoux de Diamants”, created in 1932, is among the items on show.

Lagerfeld has also written a film where he imagines an encounter with Coco Chanel, played by Geraldine Chaplin.

Selfies were snapped, and designer Karl Lagerfeld emerged dressed as the flight captain. “You’ve made my dream come true”. Chanel hollers as she walks into Lagerfeld’s studio, all modernist in gleaming white lacquer and brushed silver. “My fortune teller, when I was young, told me: “For you, it will start when it stops for the others”.

The showcase, which takes over the entire of London’s Saatchi Gallery, is pretty huge in scale, taking you on a journey through founder Coco Chanel’s career right up to the current day. “We felt it was a good time for the brand to be able to show what’s happening behind the scenes”.

The Brit star was sporting a glossy red lip but that didn’t stop her from totally owning her brand new silver lip ring which she debuted at Eva Cavalli’s masquerade themed birthday celebration alongside Keeping up with The Kardashians star Kendall Jenner on Sunday.

Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel’s president of fashion, said during an interview the aim of the exhibition – which was a year in the making – is to highlight the creativity of the brand.

At the show, which runs until November. 1, visitors can download a special app that makes the gallery’s ground floor rooms spring to life with background, quotes, and even images of Chanel’s Rue Cambon apartment. These portraits of Julianne Moore, Lily-Rose Depp and other Chanel muses that dot the walls of the gallery, blur the lines between the classic and contemporary.