Chanel celebrates the launch of the "Les Eaux de Chanel" collection in Deauville
This collection inspired by three places dear to Gabrielle Chanel (Deauville, Biarritz and Venice) was imagined by perfumer Olivier Polge in collaboration with the Chanel Perfumes Creation and Development laboratory. It was launched in Deauville from June 4 to 8, 2018. For this global launch, the House of Chanel had taken over the Villa Les Frémonts in Trouville-sur-mer and the beach in Deauville. In both locations, sets inspired by the world of Gabrielle Chanel had been totally created. Journalists and influencers from all over the world were welcomed throughout the week, brought from Paris by the Orient Express. The press review of the launch is already substantial and very international. Thousands of quotes have been reported on social networks. Deauville, forever engraved in the heritage of the House of Chanel since 1913, continues its history with the iconic style brand.
A party
To celebrate the launch, many friends and ambassadors of the House of Chanel gathered around Olivier Polge on June 7 at the Clairefontaine racecourse, including actresses Yara Shahidi, Alma Jodorowsky, Alessandra Mastronardi, Ella Purnell, Japanese actress Tao Okamoto, Chinese actress Liu Shi Shi, Korean singer Jennie Kim and French actor Nicolas Maury. The evening continued late into the night.
Eaux de Chanel
Les Eaux de Chanel is made up of three eaux de toilette (Paris-Deauville, Paris-Biarritz and Paris-Venice) that share the freshness of citrus fruits, but each with its own interpretation.
This singular collection evokes the train you dreamed of boarding at the last second, and the destination you simply have to say to feel elsewhere on your skin. Les Eaux de Chanel plunges into a familiar unknown with a sensory freshness that is both immediate and long-lasting, making you want to set sail.
L'Eau Paris-Deauville
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While Deauville holds a dizzying number of legendary symbols for Chanel, Olivier Polge, Chanel's perfumer, decided to avoid olfactory inventories. Paris-Deauville offers an immersion in bitter, biting green. A color that grips and oxygenates the body. First, we feel the invigorating energy of orange peel, petitgrain and aromatic basil leaf. Rose essence and jasmine notes rise from their impeccable head carriage, proudly assuming the floral heart of the composition. Then the sharp, vintage, chypre character of patchouli resounds. |
More than the destination itself, I liked the idea that city dwellers have of it when they dream of a weekend in the countryside. It wasn't the Normandy countryside as it really exists that I wanted to capture, but rather the promise of a walk through the tall grass.
Deauville, where it all began
In the spring of 1912, Deauville attracted the attention of young milliner Gabrielle Chanel.
The Belle Epoque saw the blossoming of seaside resorts and outdoor leisure sports. Deauville charms with its Anglo-Norman architecture, beachfront promenade and affluent population. Gabrielle Chanel entered through the front door on the arm of Boy Capel, an English polo player who had become her lover and with whom she was madly enamored. Two years earlier, with his support, she had opened her hat boutique in Paris and dreamed of opening a second one. Deauville was to be her showcase from 1913 onwards.
It wasn't long before the sharp eye of a designer and a woman eager for freedom realized the need to break the shackles of corseted elegance, fettered by narrow dresses with trains and complicated headdresses. It was here in Deauville that she imagined her first jersey silhouettes. It was here, too, that she developed her taste for the masculine wardrobe, so elegant and so practical. Her inspiration? She draws them from Capel's wardrobe, from the backs of stable boys and polo players in the alleys of racecourses, from fishermen and even from the sea breezes that are only too happy to lift lighter fabrics.
At the seaside, this sun-worshipper observes the bathers, locked in improbable swimwear. Soon, she'll be offering them flowing beach pyjamas and functional swimsuits, deck pants and comfortable, crazy-looking sailboats. Sandy beige became one of her favorite colors.
A rebellious non-conformist, Gabrielle let her skin tan, thought about cutting her hair, enjoyed café terraces and restaurants, and applauded performances by dancer Loie Fuller and the Ballets Russes, for whom she would later design costumes and support with all her soul. Her boutique on rue Gontaut-Biron was always busy. Women lusted after her knitted sweaters, envying her outfits for their simplicity and casual chic. Gabrielle Chanel had just invented sportswear.
The designer has sensed the coming mutations of a society in which women want to take a new beach.
The story is told in the Inside Chanel webseries, below.
