Chanel Mademoiselle Privé exhibition opens

Chanel has opened a three-week Mademoiselle Privé exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London to take visitors on a journey of the origins of the French fashion house, and explore the creativity of both Chanel’s eponymous founder, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, and its current creative director, Karl Lagerfeld.

The exhibit highlights the fashion house’s haute couture fashion, its jewellery including the ‘Bijoux de Diamants’ collection created in 1932, which was designed by Coco Chanel and reissued by Karl Lagerfeld, as well as delving into the story behind its legendary Chanel No. 5 perfume.

Covering all three floors of the Saatchi Gallery, the exhibition is billed as an “enticing adventure” that brings to mind, “audacity, freedom and innovation” all of which it claims are the essential elements of Chanel.

Visitors enter the exhibition via a garden, dubbed ‘The English Garden,’ which has been designed by RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winners, landscape artists, the Rich Brothers. Once inside you are greeted with a reconstruction of the mirrored staircase made famous by Coco Chanel Rue Cambon apartment, as well as other areas that represent key influences in her life including the summers spent in Scotland, and the designer’s first hat shop in Deauville.

Chanel opens free exhibition in London

Other highlights include a room dedicated to Chanel No 5 featuring gold-lidded wells each containing the perfume’s ingredients, which spring open to fill the room with the famous fragrance. There is also a fabric-lined sensory room that allows visitors to touch real Chanel couture fabrics, as well as an haute couture space showcasing the brand’s beautiful creations.

Along with the free exhibit, Chanel Mademoiselle Privé is also hosting daily workshops throughout its duration reveal more about Chanel craftsmanship, teaching visitors how to embroider, work with feathers and create flowers, while an olfactive workshop offers insight into the story and key ingredients of Chanel No. 5.

The exhibition is also being accompanied by a dedicated website as well as a visitor app with interactive content, for instance when you hold your smartphone to the mirrored staircase you are treated to a virtual tour of Coco’s private apartment.

Chanel Mademoiselle Privé is open until November 1.

Image: Chanel