Chanel goes to the opera in a gleaming but designer-less couture collection

PARIS (AP) — The show must go on, with aplomb. Chanel’s latest couture display Tuesday was a finely executed collection channeling theatricality.

Few Parisian fashion houses can fill the Paris Opera and gain applause from Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and other luminaries without even having a designer. It's a testament to Chanel’s enduring power and its world-renowned atelier following Virginie Viard's abrupt exit on June 5.

Here are some highlights of the fall couture displays:

Guests clutching Chanel opera glasses got happily lost as they explored marble staircases to find a stage in the Opera’s outer corridors, filled with red velvet opera boxes designed by French movie director Christophe Honoré. The stage was set with silhouettes evoking the opera and its heyday: dramatic capes, puffed sleeves and richly embroidered pieces.

The designs’ gleam rivaled only that of the sumptuous 19th-century atrium itself, with shimmering buttons and brilliant threads reflecting the light.

There were moments of drama, with guests reaching for their cameras (being too close for the opera glasses) to capture a black gown with puff sleeves whose feathers, beading and ribbons gleamed provocatively.

This season, there was a welcome move to less accessorizing, a departure from the hallmark of former designer Viard. The focus was on the garments themselves, highlighting the intricate craftsmanship and luxurious materials. Feathers, tassels, embroidered flowers, precious braids, lacquered jersey, supple tweeds, silky velvet, illusion tulle, taffeta, and duchesse satin adorned myriad looks befitting the venue.

Although the necklines were a standout feature—scooped or raised mini-turtle necks—alongside banded, accented shoulders or busts, the collection as a whole had a slightly disparate feel that sometimes seemed to lack a singular aesthetic anchor.

Chanel paid tribute to the ateliers of the “petites mains," or the dozens of artisans who work in six ateliers a stone’s throw from the venue.

For a house that prides itself on perfect image execution, the news that arrived in the middle of the night felt less than polished. Chanel faced its first major event Tuesday without its creative director, who abruptly left after over 30 years with the brand. The announcement was highly unorthodox, just weeks before the couture show.

Later, it emerged that the French couturier would be absent even from her final couture display, with her team stepping in to take charge.

Viard succeeded Karl Lagerfeld upon his death in 2019 and was his closest collaborator for decades. She had overseen record sales for Chanel, reaching a reported $19.7 billion last year. Ready-to-wear sales reportedly increased 23 percent during her tenure.

Yet in the fickle world of fashion, strong sales are not always enough. Viard’s tenure was dogged by controversy, most recently with criticism of her collections, including a poorly received mid-season show in Marseille. Viard faced backlash for runway shows that critics said lacked the grandiose flair defining Lagerfeld’s era, and she often received critiques for underwhelming design choices.

Though her appointment was initially seen as temporary, she was only the third creative director in Chanel’s over 100-year history after Lagerfeld and, of course, legendary founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel.

The fashion world speculates on her successor. Names like Hedi Slimane, Marine Serre and Simon Porte Jacquemus circulate, suggesting potential shifts in Chanel’s creative direction.

To nostalgic jazz music, 89-year-old fashion veteran Giorgio Armani returned to his touchstones of the Art Deco period — the 1920s and ’30s — and romance for a slow-burning and brightly gleaming couture display at the Palais de Tokyo. It was called “Pearls.”

Models donned berets in a show that glowed not only with pearls but also with velvets, silk chiffons and tulle, and ended in froths of sparkle. The meticulous craftsmanship, with embellishments like sequins, crystals and rhinestone embroideries, gave Armani's pieces a luminous, ethereal quality for fall that dazzled the eye as it was showcased by slow-walking models. On occasion, Armani was victim to his romantic spirit when he veered into the literal, such as one diamond-encrusted beret.

But tailoring — a design cornerstone for Armani, who cut his cloth in menswear — was a powerful theme in the show. A black angular jacket captured the collection theme perfectly, with its curved, graphic-lined lapel gleaming with myriad pearls adorning the shoulders.

Armani is often linked to the word “timeless” and praised for his ability to create pieces that remain stylish and relevant across decades. This strength reassures the audience, but while always beautiful, the pieces on display Tuesday sometimes lacked the surprise seen in other couture shows this season.

What remains relevant is the Italian runway icon’s enduring influence on the fashion and entertainment industries, as seen by the swath of top editors and stars such as Cate Blanchett, Jodie Turner-Smith, Naomie Harris and Eva Green, who lined the front row. So iconic, in fact, th at there was a new adjective for him revealed in the show notes — “Armanian.”

Bubbles are never far away from the effervescent couturier Alexis Mabille. Guests sipped champagne, with champagne-filled ice buckets even on the runway in a celebration of luxurious excess.

Unfurling, undressing, and plays on corsetry were on the drinks menu this season, starting with an opening number featuring a gleaming bustier that resembled an opening flower. The intimacy and ritual of getting dressed is a theme that pervades Mabille's work.

Varied looks sometimes surprised guests, such as a Bob Mackie-style feathered headdress that out-Cher-ed Cher. The extravagant piece had an almost equestrian flourish and was a real feat of couture execution, showcasing Mabille’s flair for Hollywood-inspired glamour.

A golden bullet creation, and a gleaming metallic power cape with an armor-like bustier, gave the collection a lot of attitude, if not always coherence. Mabille’s collections often embrace a wide array of silhouettes and themes, sometimes leading to a lack of unified narrative. However, the diversity is also part of his charm.

Charles de Vilmorin, the 27-year-old wunderkind of the Parisian couture scene, has once again proven his mettle with a spellbinding show that merged experimental silhouettes, dark musings, and eye-catching color palettes. Known for his vibrant use of color, de Vilmorin’s palette often evokes the sumptuousness of Christian Lacroix’s 1980s work, making him one of the most buzzed-about couturiers in Paris today.

On Tuesday, the audience was transported to a gothic dreamscape where Anna Cleveland emerged as a bewitching figure, trapped in a black straight-jacket gown that screamed both asylum and Tim Burton. De Vilmorin, known for grappling with the pressures of creation and the lofty expectations of the fashion world, channeled these tensions into his collection.

Another ‘straight-jacket’ gown appeared adorned with massive black and red plumes, like a satanic phoenix rising from the ashes. The storytelling that followed was nothing short of a sartorial saga. A gigantic rat scurried down the runway, followed by a model donning an oversized witch’s hat with a fringe of hair.

Adding to the darkly whimsical narrative was a nobleman figure, clad in a crisply wrinkled white bow shirt tied with whimsical flair. This juxtaposition of elegance and dishevelment was pure De Vilmorin. The show’s crescendo was a color-blocked blue and red chiffon Renaissance gown, a nod to historical opulence with a contemporary twist.

A model wears a creation for the Chanel Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2024-2025 collection presented Tuesday, June 25, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

A model wears a creation for the Chanel Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2024-2025 collection presented Tuesday, June 25, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

A model wears a creation for the Chanel Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2024-2025 collection presented Tuesday, June 25, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

A model wears a creation for the Chanel Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2024-2025 collection presented Tuesday, June 25, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Models prepare backstage at the Thom Browne Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2024-2025 collection presented Monday, June 24, 2024 in Paris. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation for the Chanel Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2024-2025 collection presented Tuesday, June 25, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Models prepare backstage at the Thom Browne Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2024-2025 collection presented Monday, June 24, 2024 in Paris. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation for the Chanel Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2024-2025 collection presented Tuesday, June 25, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Models wear creations for the Chanel Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2024-2025 collection presented Tuesday, June 25, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Christie Raleigh Crossley was watching a documentary recently in which basketball star Sue Bird mentioned how every time she was selected to Team USA for the Olympics, she felt like a kid again.

When the scene was over, Raleigh Crossley paused her TV and cried. She thought about the injuries, the surgeries and the impairments that rendered impossible her childhood Olympic dream. Later, though, came a sense of peace. “I wasn’t sitting there going, ‘I’m never going to be an Olympian,’” she said.

This week in the Freeman Aquatics Center at the University of Minnesota, Raleigh Crossley has instead set her sights on reaching the biggest stage in adaptive athletics with victories at the U.S. Paralympic swim trials. A trip to Paris for the 2024 Paralympics could finally fulfill her ambition.

Raleigh Crossley’s dream of being an Olympic swimmer began at age 9, watching the Atlanta Games. The native of Toms River, New Jersey, had an ability in the water that landed her at Florida State, where she won the ACC Freshman of the Year award and was named an All-American twice.

But accidents in 2007 and then 2008 hurt her badly. In the first, Raleigh Crossley sustained back and neck injuries from a car crash in which she was hit by a drunken driver. The following year, she was the victim of a pedestrian hit-and-run and sustained a brain injury.

Still, Raleigh Crossley won a Division III national title at Rowan University before her college eligibility was exhausted.

Through her collegiate career and beyond, the aspiration to be an Olympian never wavered. But after training with Michael Phelps and other swimmers returning from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Raleigh Crossley decided to start a family – she now has three children.

Raleigh Crossley began to think about one more shot at Olympic qualifying, but in December 2018 she experienced partial paralysis from a brain tumor. After surgery, she returned to the pool to prepare for the 2020 trials, only to find she had no control over her left arm when swimming. Her quest for Tokyo was abandoned after just 50 meters in the water.

Raleigh Crossley watched the Tokyo Paralympics from her home and was intrigued by the commentary of former Paralympic swimmer Michelle Konkoly. She called Konkoly’s coach, Paul Yetter, shortly thereafter and asked if she could simply avoid using her nonfunctioning arm while in the water.

“He was like, ‘it could work,’” Raleigh Crossley recalled of their conversation. “My entire para career, I’ve trained with just one arm."

Raleigh Crossley began working toward getting to Paris two years ago. A few American records and a 100-meter backstroke world championship later, she seems likely to claim a spot when the U.S. para-swim team is announced on Sunday. Through Friday she had won both the 100-meter backstroke and 100-meter freestyle in her class at the Paralympic trials.

Every Paralympian has a story behind why they are in the Games. Raleigh Crossley has the unusual perspective of a decorated career as an able-bodied swimmer before competing in para events.

“There’s muscle memory, that left arm will do whatever,” Raleigh Crossley noted of her new swimming style. “But if I focus on my right (arm), then I know that that side at least is where my power is.”

Raleigh Crossley’s coach, Wilma Wong, has worked with several Paralympic swimmers.

“Every human has a part of their body that is not equal,” Wong said. “You’re always working with some sort of discrepancy, it’s just that the discrepancy is a little bit bigger when someone has a physical impairment.”

Raleigh Crossley acknowledged that the adjustment to one-armed swimming was a massive mental block to navigate. “In the past, I have been a little stubborn and hard-headed,” she admitted. “It was taking other people going, ‘I don’t think that’s what’s working best, try this,’ and going, ‘I’m going to trust in you on that.’”

At age 37, it all seems to be coming together physically for Raleigh Crossley. Emotionally, it’s still a journey. She said the proximity of her lifelong goal only really set in for her when swimming in her first preliminary round at the trials on Thursday.

“In the warm down pool, I told my coach, ‘I’m going to do a 500 (meter),’ she said. “I’ve got tears to cry.”

Jack Rachinsky is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Christie Raleigh Crossley swims during the women's 100 freestyle at the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Swim Team Trials in Minneapolis on Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jackson Ranger)

Christie Raleigh Crossley waits on the block before swimming the Women's 100 freestyle at the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Swim Team Trials in Minneapolis, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Leighton Smithwick)

Christie Raleigh Crossley raises her hand before swimming the Women's 100 freestyle at the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Swim Team Trials in Minneapolis, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Leighton Smithwick)

Christie Raleigh Crossley swims the Women's 100 freestyle at the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Swim Team Trials in Minneapolis, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Leighton Smithwick)

Christie Raleigh Crossley talks with her coach at the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Swim Team Trials in Minneapolis, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Leighton Smithwick)