Karl Lagerfeld pulled off one of the best fashion displays by hosting his models at the Grand Palais Casino, which knitted together perfectly with his Autumn collection.
Very few establishments in modern times have maintained a strict dress code the way casinos have managed to. Even the best restaurants and theatres in town no longer always require men to put on their best suits and women to wear a cocktail dress.
Of course, not every modern casino still operates a stringent dress code, and there are still some classy casinos that allow a smart casual appearance. Fashion in casinos has already been well discussed and dissected by PartyCasino.
But what isn’t been talked about enough on this subject is Karl Lagerfeld’s 2015 Autumn collection in Paris. It was a show that merged haute couture within a sophisticated casino setting. A slice of Vegas was welcomed into Paris that day.
Who was Karl Lagerfeld?
Karl Lagerfeld was a fashion designer and creative director, most famously for Chanel. He was born in Germany in 1933 and died in Paris in 2019, leaving behind a glittering career as one of the leading fashion designers in Europe. He wasn’t just well known for his work. He had a signature appearance with snow-white hair, black sunglasses, fingerless gloves and collars that could be detached from his shirts.
The show that we discuss below was one of Lagerfeld’s last before he passed away. In fact, he only produced five more shows before his death.
The Paris Show of 2015
One of Lagerfeld’s most memorable and significant shows was his Paris Show of 2015. It was a show to reveal his Autumn collection. The show was innovatively set within a casino (the Grand Palais, to be exact) on the casino floor, encompassing gaming tables and dealers. The audience sat on the outskirts of the floor as models used the steps down the casino floor and the gaming arena itself as the catwalk.
There were many notable celebrities in attendance, some of whom took the opportunity to play some of the casino games in the process. To show their support, some of the biggest names in attendance were Kristen Stewart, Rita Ora, Julianne Moore, Lara Stone, and Lily-Rose Depp.
A show that raised the stakes?
The outfits were representative of the surroundings. Let’s just say that you weren’t ever going to see a swimwear model strutting by a blackjack table. Each of the models in the show wore tight wigs that had been styled into a bob. A business theme was used to show off a wealth of female suits, skirt suits, boxy jackets, slim-cut trousers and blazers. The outfits didn’t look out of place in the setting, and everything was knitted together perfectly.
Although Lagerfeld raised the stakes by placing his show away from a standard catwalk in a conventional venue, he managed to win on the night.