I just died and went to Chanel heaven

Images of the Chanel Spring / Summer 2010 runway presentation are trickling in and I am trying to post them as fast as I get them. Since the accessories are in a category of their own, let’s start with the clothes… and of course the fabulous front-row.

The Chanel show began with a cockerel crowing in the Grand Palais which was dressed like a barn. “Back to nature,” Karl Lagerfeld said backstage, before the show, citing Marie Antoinette in her shepherdess phase and a love of the countryside as key references. On the stage stood a giant haystack and a wooden two-storey barn from which the models emerged.

A haystack rose up in the middle of the show at the glass-domed Grand Palais to reveal singer and current face of Chanel handbags Lily Allen surrounded by a crew of dancing models and hillbilly musicians. Dressed in sequins with silver ears of wheat in her hair, she sang “It’s Not Fair” as supermodel Natalia Vodianova danced in the front row. The audience, including the pop star Prince, supermodel Claudia Schiffer, Sean Lennon and Rihanna sat on covered benches.

Don’t let the hay and milkmaids fool you because the country-chic feel was strictly for inspiration and the clothes were classic Chanel. Shades of wheat, corn and poppy-red mixed in with the classic black and white combination.

Chanel knit cardigans, classic boucle suits, gorgeous party dresses, gowns, it was all there. Every piece was sensational!  The models wore little crowns and stalks of wheat in their tousled hair, and high-heeled, wooden clogs.

Pretty pinafores and aprons edged with lace infused the collection with this season’s country-chic theme as were crocheted dresses with straw and raffia bags.

Taffeta and lace dresses, in cream and black, featured a drop-waist, embellished with silk roses. Lace was plentiful with black and silver lace adding the high wattage glamour to the dresses and separates. Silver lace frocks with flounced short sleeves were accessorized with tulle veils and stoles. Slitted skirts and dresses with white-draped tops.

The final model, Lara Stone, dressed as a bride as is tradition in Paris fashion, pushed her groom, Lagerfeld muse Italian actor Baptiste Giabiconi, into the hay where they were joined by model Freja Beha Erichsen for frolicking finale.