CHANEL · Legendary Colorama Silk & Lace Dress

— Spring 2014 Contemporary Art Collection · Karl Lagerfeld

• Ultra-Rare Runway Icon · As seen on Anna Wintour · Walked by Cara Delevingne

  Spring 2014 was Lagerfeld’s full art-world intervention: the Grand Palais became a vast white gallery, while the collection absorbed collage, deconstruction, bricolage and paint itself into Chanel’s vocabulary.

  Tim Blanks singled out a group derived from an antique paint chart — a burst of almost Pantone-like colour that became one of the season’s most memorable ideas.

// Size mark 38 FR / Condition: never worn //

• Crafted from exquisite ecru silk, light and fluid, with a softly luminous surface

• The print is built from rows of painterly colour swatches in cobalt, emerald, turquoise, lemon, coral, raspberry, violet, rust and deep blue

• The marks look hand-brushed rather than mechanically striped, giving the fabric the irregular rhythm of a working colour chart

• The palette motif was directly in step with the collection’s art-world concept; contemporary reporting noted that Lagerfeld drew on an antique colour chart for this group of looks.

• Intricate ecru floral lace frames the bust and returns dramatically at the lower hem

• The lace softens the graphic paint pattern without diluting its impact

• Fine shoulder straps keep the upper line delicate and almost weightless

• The contrast between painted silk and traditional lace is exactly the kind of material collision that defined Spring 2014