What do Saint Nick and Karl Lagerfeld have in common? Snow-white locks and the ability to cross
the globe and return, for the sake of holiday cheer, for starters. “Christmas: Dreams of Far Away,”
Chanel’s 11-window holiday display for Paris’ Printemps department store, see odes to international
destinations like Moscow (a scene of red-lit dancing marionettes) and New York City (where the
Statue of Liberty’s head is nestled within a certain double-C logo).
Still, this being Paris, and Karl being Karl, the undisputed centerpiece is the animated window that sees mini Karl-as-photographer puppets storming snow-covered landmarks like the Vendôme Column and the Eiffel Tower. At the unveiling, the paparazzi-Karl effect provided an interesting counterpoint to the camera flashes that rained down on Lagerfeld and muse Vanessa Paradis, looking effortlessly chic in a plunging blouse, before a crowd of hundreds. Afterward, it was up to the Ladurée café on the
store’s first floor, where guests like Olivier Zahm toasted the designer with macarons and flutes
of champagne as an all-female string section covered “Poker Face” and “Owner of a Lonely Heart.”
Okay, so perhaps that’s not how they do things in the North Pole, but would we have it any other
way? Mais non.
Photographed by Erin Donnelly