welcome on board of CHANEL airlines

I will be your steward throughout this flight. I'll do everything in my hand to make your journey as pleasant as possible.
The genious Kaiser of fashion presented a couple of weeks ago his collection of masterpieces for Chanel: the Cruise 2008 collection. Cruise is the freshest invention from the kings of design in order to make us look our best when we take that well-deserved break from our hectic lives of entrepeneurs in the middle of the winter. So let's say we go for a weekend to Bahamas, this way we can buy the most fashionable swim suits and shorts but also the greatest trench coats and gowns and outfits for an escape to a cooler place.


It is absolutely maginificent how many different styles and therefore outfits and possibilities of matching garments we can find for women. From jeans with very "Lagerfeld" shirts to gauze cocktail dresses or the signature tweed ensembles. Whatever you choose to wear there is something very clear: the sixties are back! Chanel is one of the lead designer brands in the world not only for its outstanding ability of renewing itself not jeopardicing the original concept of Coco, but also for the capacity of using the hair as if it was like any other accessory. This time, since it's the 60's, it comes down quite long and in rather a messy way. I can't help thinking of Charlotte of Monaco, she always looks so chic even with flip-flops or having her hair done "à la i-just-get-out-of-bed". As Lagerfeld always says, don't expect baggy pants from him; and he knows how to keep a promise. The waists go up and the width stays skinny; but, although skinny won't come off the throne, bell-bottomed jeans come back —yet once more— to "fever-night" our lives. The german designer has very much restricted the color palette to grey, black, white and blue. This restriction puts the collection in sort of an hiatus on time, making out of it an espectacular compilation of timeless pieces that will last forever.
There is, though, a particular outfit that I specially loved. Since the collection was presented on a plane hangar in Santa Monica, CA, and the models came out of Challenger 601 jets, there is also a certain airline vibe. This takes shape in a look masterly described by Nicole Phelps form Style.com as a "cross between a captain's uniform and a first-class passenger travel outfit". This means a navy suit with hues of red, blue, green, white and black on the sleeves of the blazer. Now, for my most desirable item from the Cruise collection, I must highlight the über-original suede peep-toed boots in greyish blue and black and with a bunch of wrinkles at the top which confer them more of a casual touch.

Now, to get it over with the ladies-wear, we'll talk about the trends of this summer that have survived and united the Cruise collection together with the way in which Karl Lagerfeld introduces his very own phrase of color. Along with the basic color that we have already talked about, army green plays quite a significant role on this collection, giving a different tone to the rather serious ensembles. Green is not, however, the only color to use. I know I said there wasn't colorful clothing, and I was not lying; but the Chief of the french brand brings it in through accesories. We do can find some tops with plenty of hues of bright nature, but necklaces and bracelets and hair bands or simply sunglasses or belts are in charge of this task and —I have to say— quite successfully. Plastic, which is due to spread through bags and shoes this summer, will still be one of the main fabrics on the ladies' beloved accessories and it will also show up as detail of some of the cocktail gowns to update them.




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Having the women's and men's line inspirated-alike seems to be becoming the next craze among designers. Frida Giannini started it and everyone seems to be following.The color palette for guys is exactly the same as for girls, but the whole concept to the collection is much more casual and made for the day-to-day life to be chicly dressed in sportswear.
First of, it is funny finding the exact same outfit to the airline-inspirated suit for women as it is also funny to find some other correspondances between the ladies' and men's wear.

However, as much shared inspiration as both collections have, grey is, by far, the protagonist for men; it comes in different shades and joins navy blue for the perfect dressed-up casual look. Jackets cover most of the outfits in the shape of blazer-cutted garments which lay over simple stripped shirts and plain white tees. Cargo shorts join cigarrette, classic pants in navy and grey sometimes also with very fine stripes. I particularly loved all the looks for the male body because they reach the perfect symbiosis point of classyness and modernity. Straight lines predominate, waists —as it happened with girls— go up (not so happy about that!) and tops get fitted to mark more our muscles —those who have some anyway; it all doesn't stop the entire set of clothes from being extremely fresh and —I'm sure— absolutely comfortable.
So it is all about keepeing it simple and clean and relaxed and culminating it with great sneackers in the same colors of the garments and, of course, adding your very own details to share space with the espectacular art of Herr Lagerfeld.


But now, before I take my leave, I feel in my duty of talking shortly about the terrific avalanche of celebrities that attended the showcase. We're talking Demi Moore, Lindsay Lohan, Diane Kruger, Victoria Beckham and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (notice her particular perfection and style)



































I hope you had a nice flight. Thank you for flying with Chanel airlines and we hope to see you again on board soon!

I'm off.