CHANEL 11C in Saint-Tropez | Karl Lagerfeld’s Riviera Tailoring【2011 Cruise】 | UK

サントロペの街がランウェイに！シャネル11C｜カール・ラガーフェルド期のCHANEL【2011クルーズ】

For readers in the United Kingdom, CHANEL 2011 Cruise (11C) was staged in Saint-Tropez in the South of France. It carries the glamour of the Karl Lagerfeld era, yet feels relaxed, free and full of life.

An evening harbour, Sénéquier’s red chairs and speedboats arriving from the sea: instead of placing a conventional runway in town, Lagerfeld turned everyday Saint-Tropez into the show itself.

CHANEL 11C | Saint-Tropez at Dusk Becomes the Runway

While guests waited on Sénéquier’s red wooden chairs, the models arrived by speedboat at Quai Jean Jaurès, stepped ashore and began walking along the harbour.

Rather than simply “walking a runway,” the models recreated the Saint-Tropez of another era. Arriving by boat, passing the café and sometimes walking barefoot over the stones, they made the scene feel like a Riviera film from the 1970s.

CHANEL 2011 Cruise black and gold long sleeve runway look in Saint-Tropez

CHANEL 2011 Cruise pastel flowing dress runway look in Saint-Tropez

CHANEL 2011 Cruise golden sleeveless dress runway look in Saint-Tropez

CHANEL 2011 Cruise black and white mini runway look in Saint-Tropez

CHANEL 2011 Cruise sheer black long dress runway look in Saint-Tropez

CHANEL 2011 Cruise cropped black jacket and brown trousers runway look

Riviera Tailoring in Tweed Jackets, Silk Dresses and Tops

Air-light kaftans, long crochet dresses, silk-jersey trouser suits with ruffled collars and patchwork denim appeared beside cropped tweed jackets, bikini tops and high-waisted flares.

The charm of 11C is polished luxury without stiffness. White brightens the face like reflected seaside light, while black and gold stay light through the collection’s balance of covered and bare skin. Even a tweed jacket feels wonderfully free with sun-kissed skin and bare legs.

CHANEL 2011 Cruise white ruffled dress runway look in Saint-Tropez

CHANEL 2011 Cruise black and ivory jacket with mini skirt runway look

CHANEL 2011 Cruise white trouser look with black sash and hat

CHANEL 2011 Cruise striped mini dress outside Senequier in Saint-Tropez

CHANEL 11C | Bardot, Mick Jagger and Clothes Filled with the Town’s Memories

Black-and-white gingham swimwear recalls Brigitte Bardot, an enduring symbol of Saint-Tropez. A white silk tuxedo evoked Mick Jagger, who married Bianca at the town hall here in 1971.

Rather than treating the past as nostalgia, Karl made it live again through models laughing, dancing and walking the streets. Then Mick’s Saint-Tropez memory returned in an unexpected way: his daughter Georgia May Jagger appeared in the finale.

Watch the full show from the models’ arrival by speedboat at Quai Jean Jaurès to their first steps along the harbour, as the street outside Sénéquier and its red chairs becomes the runway.

CHANEL 11C | A Finale Linking Mick and Georgia May Jagger

Georgia rode on the back of a Harley in a beaded mini dress and thigh-high boots while her father’s “Let’s Spend the Night Together” played. From the white silk tuxedo recalling Mick’s wedding to a finale starring his daughter, Saint-Tropez and the Jagger family met within one show.

It was not a perfectly ordered final line, but an ending that felt as though the town’s night was about to begin. The dresses and jackets looked less like clothes to save for an occasion and more like clothes made for enjoying life.

The dress worn by Keira Knightley is also from 11C—and it is absolutely charming.