A Contrast Of Grit And Elegance At Chanel's 2023/24 Métiers d’Art Show In Manchester

For one night only, the cobbled streets of Manchester were transformed into a Parisian runway.

By Kenneth Goh - published 8 Dec 2023

The romance of rain was not lost in the Northern city of Manchester, home for one night to Chanel’s 2023/24 Métiers d’Art show. Held at a covered walkway on Thomas Street, a famous area more known for rowdy pubs and late-night tattoo parlours, it was transformed into a runway on this one magical evening of 7 December 2023. The outdoor wooden benches and high stools normally reserved for soccer fans watching the latest Manchester United game were turned to face the street. In their place, double-C clad editors and gilt-covered clients were flown in globally to witness fashion history in the making. You see Manchester, if anything, is not known for its high-end fashion. Football, music, left-wing politics and a proud working class population are the roots that really make this Northern City.

Under the shower of rain, bare-legged models in knee-length skirt suits in a variety of pastel colours walked out from a nearby warehouse. The wet roads were not an issue as they strode confidently in Mary Jane flats trimmed with gold Chanel emblems and pearls made by the house of Massaro. No vertiginous heels here. "Sensible" is a word that is hardly associated with the world of high fashion, but in this setting where Manchester’s grit contrasted beautifully with Chanel’s elegance, it made sense. Modernity was injected with biker shorts under coats, long and narrow football scarves in matching colours and of course, the cutest novelty bags that will be catnip to Chanel loyalists: think trinket bags shaped like circular glitter balls and even tea tin boxes—what’s Britain without a nice cup of tea?

To the beat of the falling rain that picked up pace as the models walked, the palette of pastel brights turned to autumnal shades of brown and burgundy. Layering textures of tweed with knits and black vinyl leathers, a tougher woman emerged from the mist. Perhaps it’s a nod to the factory girls from the ‘60s who once walked these very same streets, all bundled up in their winter wools as they ended a hard day’s work. Knee-high socks appeared, as did beanies and pageboy caps pulled low on the brow. Strings of pearls decorating slender waists and gilt chains circling necks and wrists ensured you never forgot that Chanel is, and will always be, luxurious and chic.

To the tune of New Order’s "Bizarre Love Triangle", the show ended with rows of women in tweed marching to their own fashion beat, sensible shoes on, and fresh faces flushed with the joy that this delightful medley of football, Britishness, and the very best Métiers d’Art ateliers produced a stylish wardrobe that the world would be proud to don as their own.