Spring/Summer 2005 · Karl Lagerfeld

Spring/Summer 2005 · Karl Lagerfeld

Light, worn as a uniform

Spring/Summer 2005 · Karl Lagerfeld

Light, worn as a uniform

Spring 2005 was Chanel's season of the camera: a collection made for the front row, the red carpet and the flash of the photographers, praised for its small sculpted jackets and softly nipped tweed. Anna Wintour, the most watched woman in any front row, wore this very suit, and it is easy to see why.

Spring/Summer 2005 · Karl Lagerfeld

Light, worn as a uniform

Spring 2005 was Chanel's season of the camera: a collection made for the front row, the red carpet and the flash of the photographers, praised for its small sculpted jackets and softly nipped tweed. Anna Wintour, the most watched woman in any front row, wore this very suit, and it is easy to see why.

From a distance it reads as a quiet neutral; up close it is pure light, a pale Lesage tweed between ecru, stone and champagne, threaded with shimmer. A famous and rare collector's piece, complete with its skirt, never worn.

Spring/Summer 2005 · Karl Lagerfeld

Light, worn as a uniform

Spring 2005 was Chanel's season of the camera: a collection made for the front row, the red carpet and the flash of the photographers, praised for its small sculpted jackets and softly nipped tweed. Anna Wintour, the most watched woman in any front row, wore this very suit, and it is easy to see why.

From a distance it reads as a quiet neutral; up close it is pure light, a pale Lesage tweed between ecru, stone and champagne, threaded with shimmer. A famous and rare collector's piece, complete with its skirt, never worn.

A Lesage tweed whose colour is deliberately hard to name: warm enough to flatter the skin, cool enough to stay perfectly clean.

Spring/Summer 2005 · Karl Lagerfeld

Light, worn as a uniform

Spring 2005 was Chanel's season of the camera: a collection made for the front row, the red carpet and the flash of the photographers, praised for its small sculpted jackets and softly nipped tweed. Anna Wintour, the most watched woman in any front row, wore this very suit, and it is easy to see why.

From a distance it reads as a quiet neutral; up close it is pure light, a pale Lesage tweed between ecru, stone and champagne, threaded with shimmer. A famous and rare collector's piece, complete with its skirt, never worn.

A Lesage tweed whose colour is deliberately hard to name: warm enough to flatter the skin, cool enough to stay perfectly clean.

• The palette moves between ecru, pale stone, soft beige and champagne, never once turning yellow.
• The shimmer is scattered through the weave in fine gold and silver threads, a glow rather than a sparkle.
• The pastels hide deep in the yarns, flecks of blush, sea green and powder blue visible only up close.
• The fringe is left long and feathery at every edge, so the cloth itself becomes the ornament.
• The lining is a tonal silk, continuing the pale palette inside both pieces.

A Lesage tweed whose colour is deliberately hard to name: warm enough to flatter the skin, cool enough to stay perfectly clean.

A Lesage tweed whose colour is deliberately hard to name: warm enough to flatter the skin, cool enough to stay perfectly clean.

• The palette moves between ecru, pale stone, soft beige and champagne, never once turning yellow.
• The shimmer is scattered through the weave in fine gold and silver threads, a glow rather than a sparkle.
• The pastels hide deep in the yarns, flecks of blush, sea green and powder blue visible only up close.
• The fringe is left long and feathery at every edge, so the cloth itself becomes the ornament.
• The lining is a tonal silk, continuing the pale palette inside both pieces.

• Jewel buttons in gold, their domed faces pebbled like hammered metal and set with tiny double Cs.
• Lesage tweed, the fabric of the house, rendered here as something almost photographic in its luminosity.
• The fringe, Chanel's hand-finished edge, softening the precise lines of the tailoring.
• The tailleur, jacket and skirt in one cloth, the public uniform that Gabrielle Chanel invented for modern women.
• The front row, the most demanding stage in fashion, where this suit earned its fame.

Compact, sculpted and gently nipped at the waist, the jacket draws a clean shoulder and a slender middle, then opens softly away from the body at the hip, keeping the line feminine without exaggeration.

Compact, sculpted and gently nipped at the waist, the jacket draws a clean shoulder and a slender middle, then opens softly away from the body at the hip, keeping the line feminine without exaggeration.

• The neckline is round and collarless, edged in a soft cloud of fringe.
• The front closes on a single row of gold jewel buttons, evenly spaced to the hem.
• The sleeves are long and slim, ending in fringed cuffs that brush the wrist.
• The skirt falls in a clean A-line to just above the knee, the tweed flowing unbroken to the hem.
• The whole draws one long, light line, poised yet never formal.

Size mark
Jacket FR 40 · Skirt FR 38

Size mark
Jacket FR 40 · Skirt FR 38

Condition
Never worn

Size mark
Jacket FR 40 · Skirt FR 38

Condition
Never worn

Condition report

• Tweed: unpilled, the shimmer bright, every thread intact.
• Fringe: full and even along every edge.
• Buttons: all present, the gold unscuffed.
• Lining: clean silk, seams secure on both pieces.