Pharrell Williams made a visit to the industrious studios of Chanel earlier this year and was caught on video. The short, released by Chanel, see’s Mr. Collaboration himself watching as some of the world’s finest craftspeople work on the delicate pieces which made up the Paris in Rome 2015/2016 Métiers d’Art collection.
The release of the video, which has been labelled ‘cryptic’ by some camps, has led to widespread speculation that a collaboration between Pharrell and Chanel is on the cards. Yet, the luxury fashion brand has yet to confirm or deny such theories. What they have said is that Pharrell visited the Maisons d’Art located in the Pantin area of Paris shortly after the ‘Fall-Winter Ready-to-Wear show at the Grand Palais’. While there he ‘discovered the traditional craft skills of the Maison Lesage ateliers, featherworkers and flower specialists Lemarié, pleating experts Lognon, shoemakers Massaro, and milliners Maison Michel’. They went on to say that Pharrell ‘watched pieces being made’ for the upcoming Paris in Rome collection.
Pharrell has had a healthy relationship with Chanel in the past and is known as a brand ambassador for them. He is good friends with the creative director of Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, and has taken part in their publicity campaigns. Last year he starred alongside Cara Delevingne and Hudson Kroenig in a short directed by Lagerfeld himself, called ‘Reincarnation’. The three then went on to model Chanel’s Paris-Salzburg campaign.
Earlier this year Pharrell made no secret of his appearance at the Chanel show for Paris Fashion Week. The musician starred in a video diary which showed a day in his life getting ready for the show. Pharrell appears alongside his wife, Helen Lasichanh, in the video which sees them choosing outfits, shopping in Chanel’s flagship store, getting ready in their hotel room and taking their seats at the show.
Pharrell’s love of fashion is well documented and he even won the Fashion Icon Award at the Council of Fashion Designers America (CFDA) Awards last June. However, not one to simply sit on the fashion sidelines, Pharrell has vested interests in a number of fashion lines. He recently bought back his streetwear labels Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream and became a co-owner of the label G-Star Raw in February of this year. In addition to all this, Adidas enjoyed a very successful collaboration with him last year. The ‘Supercolors’ footwear range sold out in one weekend, a feat that the brand did not expect and in March Adidas announced that last year was their most successful year to date. No doubt the ‘Supercolors’ release played a small part in that.
Another less viewed video was also released by Chanel which shows the pieces being made in more detail than in the one featuring Pharrell. For those of you truly interested in the process behind what goes into a Chanel piece, it is definitely worth watching.
So, are Pharrell Williams and Chanel getting ready to announce that they are to collaborate on a high fashion range? Who knows, we will have to watch this space!
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