On Tuesday, Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood star Margaret Qualley took a trip down the aisle for Chanel’s fall ‘21 Haute Couture show. For the show’s finale, the actress and Chanel ambassador walked the runway in a high-neck, long-sleeved gown, paired with a polka-dot veil, a pillbox hat, and a pink-and-purple bouquet. At the end of her walk, she tossed the bouquet into the crowd. InStyle Editor-in-Chief Laura Brown caught it.
Seeing a wedding during a couture show finale is pretty standard at this point — couture shows have included bridal finale looks since the early 1900s; it became a standard practice by the ‘40s. Chanel, in particular, has followed the tradition, closing out its biannual spectacles with a model bride — Claudia Schiffer, Alek Wek, Cara Delevingne, and more — since the ‘80s. Artistic director Virginie Viard went a step further, sending out another wedding-appropriate frock — a white tiered gown with pearl flowers embroidered on the bodice — as well as chic alternatives to bridesmaid dresses — a gown embroidered with delicate lace flowers and a black, bow-embellished frock with tulle details — for the new season.
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For the remaining looks in the Couture collection, Viard took inspiration from Impressionist painters like Berthe Morisot and Édouard Manet, creating gowns, skirts, and headpieces that matched those brought to life in the 19th-century paintings. “There are dresses embroidered with water lilies,” Viard said in the show notes, in reference to Claude Monet’s 250-plus-piece collection of paintings of the flowers. “[There is also a] long white satin dress punctuated with black bows like Morisot's,” she continued.
Pops of color were another point of inspiration for the designer, who selected the location — the City of Paris Fashion Museum, called the Palais Galliera — specifically because of its contrasting muted exterior. Included in the collection were hot pink feathers and drape-y suits, mint green slip dresses, and baby pink bustiers, which were styled alongside low-waisted floral pencil skirts. According to the show notes, Viard wanted the pieces to look “just like splashes of paint.”
See the full collection in the video, below.
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