This morning, Karl Lagerfeld sent a slew of feathery supermodels down the catwalk for Chanel’s AW14 couture show in the Grand Palais. Including the world’s first reality TV catwalk graduate, Kendall Jenner– walking in her first ever couture show, after only making her ready-to-wear catwalk debut in Paris, in February – and heavily pregnant model, Ashleigh Good, who closed the show, two things became immediately obvious: Duran Duran mohawks are now haute and flip-flops, after a punitive hiatus, are back.
It’s not the first time that Karl’s taken a quotidian piece of footwear and given it his fairy godmother (_Ch_odmother?) makeover. While everyone was gasping with glee over Chanel’s bespoke supermarché, as created for his ready-to-wear AW14 show in May, they were also nodding sagely at the glittery trainers adorning the models’ feet.
Trainers were already officially back, we all knew that; but Karl cemented them in the style stakes. With flip-flops, though, Karl’s done something pretty bold: has anyone got their flip-flops out yet this summer?
There was no precedent for these bad boys. All flip-flops from Accessorize are long buried under intricate Ancient Greek leather sandals and high-shine Zara slides. No-one, if we’re honest, had given the humble flip-flop a second thought this year.
But for today’s couture show, they were present in every look but one (where the shoes were still flats – silver loafers) with chic ballerina-esque black silk ribbons to tie them around your ankle, giving them a slightly luxe bohemian vibe. Karl made possibly his greatest joke to date, when he referred to the proliferation of thonged sandals as ‘thong in chic’.
Contrasting with the pared-back youthfulness of the footwear (and the 80s cycling shorts, rendered in tweed), there were couture-appropriate levels of frou frou, with full-skirted, knee-length, ultra-femme suits and ankle-length boucle and embellished tweed (obviously) red carpet gowns, with off-the-shoulder bodices that sprouted Black Swan feathers from the shoulders and arms.
The hair may be a surprising beauty direction – but it is, in fact, typically Lagerfeld. For Fendi’s AW13 show, Karl sent everyone down the Fendi runway (where he is also creative director) with real fur mohawks. Today, his models sported punky 80s ‘faux-hawks’ made of presumably more than just their own severely back-combed hair. [*
With couture SS14 in full throttle – yesterday’s Dior show was adorned with 150,000 orchids, as well as Charlize and Sean Penn on the FROW – Karl’s ensured Chanel couture will be a talking point long after the season is done.
A great joke, Kendall Jenner and flat shoes: it’s a triumvirate which cannot fail in today’s pop culture.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.