Chanel / Spring 2013 RTW

The Chanel runway in the vast hall of the Grand Palais appeared to have been made from solar panels, and along its considerable length sprouted a forest of towering wind turbines that Karl Lagerfeld called “beautiful modern architecture.” Karl was clearly looking to the future and to the idea of harnessing technology to fashion, from the fabrics printed, woven, or layered to create the illusion of three-dimensionality, to the playful accessories including the classic Chanel boater reimagined with an enormous brim of clear Lucite, or the new Chanel bag in bright molded plastic.

“We need energy,” said Karl after the show. “Energy is the most important thing in life!” Those turbines might also have been a metaphor for the designer’s own astonishing reserves of energy, expended this season on a dizzying deluge of ideas poured into the 80 looks that careened down that epic runway and ran the gamut from baby-doll frocks in linen chambray, denim, or gingham tweed, to sophisticated long evening dresses in monastic black and white.

“It’s all about volume and lightness,” added Karl, “ . . . because usually volume and lightness don’t go together.” That volume meant pneumatic little dresses, often worn with short cropped jackets, whose bouffant lines were achieved through the use of innovative fabrics including waffle-textured organza and fine rayon knits. Karl also played with the idea of a “skirt dress”—as though you had hiked up a skirt to transform it into a strapless dress.

There was a beachy spirit to some of the playful accessories—a quilted lambskin bag contained within the rings of two full-size hula-hoops, and clumpy platform sandals with stripy soles. And although he stripped away many of the house codes, “no chain, no braid, no plastic Chanel buttons, only pearls, pearls, pearls,” as he said, the Chanel imprimatur was indelible. Those giant pearls might be wrapped as chokers—or a single pearl set to float in a metal cuff or to anchor a messy chignon at the nape of the neck. They were dotted over the black wool jackets (and skirt dress) that opened the show, and strung together as a belt on a brace of slithery crepe evening sheaths.

But alongside the innovation, there was a master’s hand to the couture-quality touches. A child’s handheld “windmill’ was reinterpreted in organza as a charming three-dimensional embroidery motif, for instance, and the finale strapless dresses were pale backgrounds to three-dimensional sprigs and branches heavy with blossom.