CHANEL · Cruise 2011 · Saint-Tropez · Karl Lagerfeld
Saint-Tropez, barefoot and free
For Cruise 2011, Karl Lagerfeld took Chanel to the old port of Saint-Tropez, in front of the Café Sénéquier. "It's not a bling-bling place," he said: the town has always been about joie de vivre. The models arrived by Riva speedboat and walked the quay barefoot, in the free, sun-washed spirit of the Riviera of the sixties and seventies, the Saint-Tropez of Brigitte Bardot.
Denim was at the heart of that dream. These jeans walked the runway with a gingham top and bare feet. Their sky blue denim is softly faded, as if worn all summer by the sea, and hand-embroidered with garlands of little leaves in pastel turquoise and pale yellow, running along the waistband, around the pockets and down the legs.
Not simply jeans, but a piece of an era: they are one of the most recognisable pieces of one of Lagerfeld's most joyful collections.
The Riviera summer, embroidered on denim.












