Looming transport strike forces Chanel to change Métiers d'Art show date

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Nov 21, 2019

Chanel has pushed up the date of its next Métiers d’Art show, as Paris braces for a new series of transport strikes in December.
 
The house had scheduled its next Métiers d’Art show for Thursday, December 5, but has now advanced the date by 24 hours to the evening of Wednesday, December 4.

 
“Considering the situation expected in Paris on Thursday December 5th 2019, Chanel has decided to reschedule its Métiers d’art 2019-20 show to Wednesday, December 4th, 2019,” the house confirmed to FashionNetwork.com.
 
The show will be the debut Métiers d’Art collection designed by Virginie Viard, Chanel’s artistic director who succeeded Karl Lagerfeld after his passing in February of this year. The next Métiers d’Art show will be staged inside the Grand Palais, Chanel’s preferred venue for many shows.

The December 5 strike is shaping up to be a major confrontation between the government and unions, with railway workers, metro drivers, hauliers, airline ground crew and postal workers all announcing that they will take co-ordinated action against plans to reform the French pension system. In the latest news, French teachers have announced that they will join the Dec. 5 strike; adding that they could even extend the strike to the “unlimited” action proposed by the  railway workers.
 
Due to transport concerns foreign editors might have difficulty reaching Paris that week. Moreover, many senior Paris-based editors will be in America that week, attending a Dior Men show in Miami, preventing them from making the Métiers d’Art event.
 
Métiers d’Art is a unique Chanel creation – which combines elements of haute couture with luxury ready-to-wear. As it is traditionally staged in the first week of December it is considered the last important runway show of any year, since it was first launched in 2002.
 
The show will be the latest test for Viard since she took over the design at the single most important luxury fashion brand in the world. After somewhat tepid reviews for her opening two collections, Viard staged a critically lauded ready-to-wear show in September, despite the show being interrupted by a local TV comedian.
 
Métiers d’Art often marked the highpoint of Lagerfeld’s creativity for Chanel, with legendary shows throughout the globe. From his epic Mary Queen of Scots punk rock show in Linlithgow Castel outside Edinburgh to dazzling catwalk displays in Salzburg, Tokyo and Rome.
 
After a career spanning over six decades, Lagerfeld took his final bow with an Egyptian-inspired Métiers d’Art collection inside the Temple of Dendur, within the Metropolitan Museum in New York in December 2018.