CHANEL Privé

I am pleased to share with you my experience at the CHANEL Privé exhibition held at the prestigious Saatchi Gallery in London. I felt honoured to be invited to the launch evening, finally my spending is being recognised. I was among the first people to see the display of CHANEL senses and secrets behind the biggest fashion house in the world. Ok arguably maybe not the biggest in the world but to me they are miles ahead of any other fashion house, there is no comparison with any other brand.

The world of CHANEL consumes me to the point where I have CHANEL to thank for my successful career. Each day I am inspired by the brand, inspired by Gabrielle’s androgyny and the powerful spirit she was. I am also driven by earning money just so I can spend it in CHANEL every month, every week, what the hell…… every day. Thank you CHANEL for pushing the boundaries and making me fall so in love with a brand that has allowed me to be so passionate and driven to succeed.

Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel’s CEO is filling that gap that sits between CHANEL as a brand and us as the consumer. This made me so happy, I was pleased to hear that CHANEL wanted to reach to their consumers and enable them to interact with the brand as much as they can. I started to feel like CHANEL did not need to promote themselves because they were untouchable. When CHANEL launched their Instagram account a year ago, thirteen months ago to be precise, it was a way of letting us know that they are fully prepared to interact with the consumer to entice us and make us feel a part of the CHANEL world. I admire Bruno’s modern directions to fill that empty space with digital awareness. Being a full time blogger (90% focused on CHANEL) this is music to my ears.

“The way we look at the future, isn’t by asking ‘How can we make this digital?’ it’s there from the ground up,” Bruno explained. “We want to use all our means to be connected to our customers; digital is the area between the boutique and the customers, so it’s the most powerful way for us to engage with them. Some people go shopping, they like to be surprised, to wander, they don’t know where they are going, but others want to be connected and want to prepare. They know that when they go to the boutique they need to see this, this, this and this – and our job is to make that happen in the easiest way possible.” 

I had ten minutes to prepare for the evening, I had been at a shoot all day (excited to reveal this project in November) so my hair an make up was fine. I grabbed my new black lace dress I had custom made for PFW and out the door I whizzed. I do own some CHANEL dresses and suits but I panicked and thought I would be over doing it if I wore head to toe CHANEL. Luckily the Saatchi Gallery is a five minute walk from my home so there was no need to rush.

As I approached Kings road the excitement kicked in, I could see all the women dressed head to toe in CHANEL, obviously my first thought was shall I run home and slip into one of my CHANEL suits. But hey at least I could admire the other women.

We were greeted by smiley security and a row of ten plus beautiful CHANEL girls holding an iPad. We then had to walk through an English country garden, designed by Harry and David Rich which led us to the entrance.

The first room was a recreation of Coco Chanel’s Rue Cambon apartment which is famously recognised for the mirror staircase. I think I was the first (on that night) to jump straight on the staircase to pose for a photo. This brings me to my plus one; Paris was my plus one for the night. Seeing as he probably spends equally as much as me on the brand it was only fair he got to see where he was spending his money. This how ever back fired as most pictures he took of me turned out green or blurry.

I was excited for this exhibition not only to see CHANEL “things” on display but because for me I have read every book, shopped in stores all around the world, styled my clients in CHANEL couture and as you know I have a large collection myself. This wasn’t a showcase of a new revealed collection, it was a showcase of what already exists. For me I know everything there is to know from the history to the fabrics they use. I was excited to see how CHANEL was going to present it to us. I knew they would have something unbelievably order ambien 10mg online creative which would blow the socks off any other exhibition I had visited previously.

CHANEL obviously didn’t disappoint me, it is not in their essence to disappoint, I do not think CHANEL even know how to disappoint. Each room was unique from one to the other. I walked through draped CHANEL fabrics where I could touch the famous bouclé tweed and silk fabric. I was most surprised by the perfume room. This room was fun, Paris loved this room; he described it as the Willy Wonka factory scene which was a random comment but pretty accurate.

I also love the random CHANEL “Stuff” they make. Where does all this CHANEL visual merchandise go after? Imagine all the display items in storage, the airport trollies, the supermarket pasta packs, the CHANEL plates, where do they all end up? Anyway, I loved the Vegas style slot machines, I would have loved them even more if they worked and we could win a CHANEL bag.

The final room was the bar. I immediately noticed the iconic CHANEL GIRLS proudly displayed on the walls. Lara Stone, Keira Knightly, Rita Ora, Kristen Stewart, Lily-Rose Depp, and Vanessa Paradis. Ohhh to be one of these girls.

I wanted to talk about the staff on the night. When I was telling my friends all about the exhibition I was surprisingly asked “how were the CHANEL head office staff?” “were they rude and unfriendly?” I asked them why they would think and ask this, I found this question interesting. It seems because the brand is such a prestigious brand that people automatically expect the team to be unapproachable and unfriendly. I actually did notice all of the staff on the night. I was admiring their outfits and day dreaming how fabulous it must be to be wearing CHANEL to work. I was also admiring the style of the girls. I could see the CHANEL team in their navy uniform but each girl looked different and styled their CHANEL, what I like to call the Karl way; modern, casual and trendy. I love the mixture of CHANEL tweed with some leather pants. When you think about it, it is not at all surprising that the team behind such a strong brand would be the best in the world, but this does not mean they wouldn’t be nice. These girls seemed friendly, fun, young and happy to interact with everyone. Seeing this about the brand just makes me love them even more. To the girls walking around making sure the event ran smoothly, not only was the event great, you all looked super chic and I loved admiring you as well as the exhibition.

The night ended feeling totally inspired to shop the next day, which I did. This reminds me that I did forget to mention my quick stop at CHANEL Harrods half an hour before I left for the exhibition launch. I promised to reveal this purchase soon, so here they are.  I am now trying to find the delectable CHANEL heeled shoes of my dreams in my size.

I left with my CHANEL goody bag, a goody bag that will be cherished forever because of the Saatchi Gallery packaging. Paris also redeemed himself for the bad, uncreative photos he took by giving me his goody bag. Ok he didn’t offer it to me, I simply took it.

I cannot recommend visiting this exhibition enough, I am totally consumed by CHANEL and I am yet to meet anyone who is A. As obsessed as me B. who spends all their money on one brand and C. who has a collection to rival mine, so yes, okay I am biased but seriously you have to pay them a visit. It is a fabulous day out commencing from the 13th October – 1st November. The admission is free. I do recommend going on a week day as I walked passed the gallery over the weekend and the wait looked extremely long. If you can only go on a weekend try to go early.

Do not forget to download the free app. The app takes you around the gallery and explains each room.

To read more about what I wore, please click here.

Please see the bottom of the article to enter my giveaway. 

 

 

As promised I have a give away to share with one lucky winner. This year I am teaming up with the clothes show live. The Clothes Show was my first entry into fashion when I was a teenager, I will be talking more about this on my blog soon. For now if you would like to enter my giveaway away to win a ticket to the Clothes Show live plus an extra ticket for a friend; for Saturday 5th of December all you have to do is comment on this article, leave your email address and you must be following me on instagram here. Winner will be announced in two weeks.

 

 

CC xx