Last December, actor Kristen Stewart sat in a castle in France’s Loire Valley, the sole guest at Chanel’s 2020–21 Métiers d’art show. Had a global pandemic not gripped the world, surely others would have been there too: Anna Wintour, Edward Enninful, perhaps front-row regulars Sofia Coppola, Cara Delevingne, and Lily-Rose Depp. Still, the collection by creative director Virginie Viard was presented with grandeur. That is, after all, the Chanel way—a sky-high standard set by Viard’s predecessor, the late Karl Lagerfeld.
Under his creative direction, his perfectionism, his ability to land at the ever-elusive crux of timelessness and modernity with each collection, a once-flailing Chanel was revived to the tune of billions in revenue and worldwide adoration. But it wasn’t just Lagerfeld who made Chanel the pinnacle of luxury fashion. It was the artisans from the House of Lesage, handweaving samples of Chanel’s fancy tweeds; it was the embroiderers at Atelier Montex, festooning fabrics with sequins and crystals; and it was the shoemakers, leatherworkers, and goldsmiths who craft accessories on which those with the means don’t flinch at spending four to five figures. For years Chanel has turned to these speciality houses, almost all established in France, and boasting rich histories of expert craftsmanship, to bring its designs to life. The creative partnerships have grown so strong that Chanel began acquiring the ateliers in 1985, and finally united them in 1997 as “Les Métiers d’art de Chanel.” The first show was in 2002.
That year, recalls Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel’s president of fashion, “I asked Karl, What can you do? What can we do as Chanel to make [these ateliers] even more known, to recognize their expertise? Karl came up with this amazing idea, saying, ‘Some time in the beginning of December, I should develop a new collection, and the name of the collection will be Métiers d’art.’ And that was the beginning of the story.”
The inaugural Métiers d’art show, named Satellite Love, featured 33 looks presented to a small audience of editors and clients at Chanel’s haute couture salon in Paris. “It was not a big show, but it was a very sophisticated collection,” Pavlovsky says. The pieces, which were mostly black, white, and red, included a floor-length beaded gown; a pair of delicate, slim-cut lace pants; and satin heels hand-embroidered with floral motifs. In the years since, each Métiers d’art collection has been inspired by a specific location across the globe, with many of the shows being hosted in those places. Shanghai, Dallas, and Hamburg are among cities Chanel’s notoriously large-scale productions have descended on. Unlike couture pieces, Métiers d’art looks are produced for Chanel boutiques and are consistently top sellers.
“It was quite amazing to be able to make [2020–21 Métiers d’art] happen with such a level of restrictions,” Pavlovsky says, noting exhaustive back-and-forth between the house, the château, and public officials to ensure that all precautions were followed. Critics have argued that fashion shows are no longer necessary given the global reach technology affords, and some have taken the industry to task for what’s seen as an unnecessary expense, especially amid a global pandemic.
“Even in a pandemic period, I think to dream is something quite important,” says Pavlovsky. “You can take 10 minutes to see something amazing, which takes you somewhere else. And the idea behind shows is an invitation, or an offer, to [do that].”
In a letter to the press, Chanel called the location of the 2020–21 Métiers d’art show, Château de Chenonceau, “an obvious choice.” Situated in central France, it’s also known as Le Château des Dames, or Ladies’ Castle, as a nod to the many women who have lived there, among them Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de’ Medici. The estate’s plush gardens, checkered floors, and Gothic-meets-Renaissance architecture served as inspiration for Viard’s 67 looks. De’ Medici’s emblem of two intertwined C’s, found throughout the château, was a grace note.
From their studios, where strict guidelines are in place to ensure their safety, six artisans across five ateliers share how the collection came to be.
LESAGE
“I must say, I’m not a calm person, but with weaving, you have to learn to be patient,” says Thomas Bricout, an artisan who joined the House of Lesage in 2017. Established in 1924 and acquired by Chanel in 2002, the house creates embroideries and, since 1998, the fancy tweeds that have become synonymous with Chanel. Bricout and his colleagues channeled that patience for the most recent Métiers d’art collection, sewing tweeds that evoked elements of Château de Chenonceau. One, a complex black-and-white jacquard, was based on the floor tiles in the castle’s grand hall. Another was made with silk, chenille, sequins, and ribbons, in colors similar to those in the famous French tapestry series the Lady and the Unicorn. Creating the textiles involved a combination of working on a classic loom and weaving by hand. “The samples are handwoven,” says Bricout, “so that can be quite time consuming, depending on the complexity of the tweed we are working on.”
Bricout’s textiles eventually become jackets, skirts, and dresses, which are then embroidered by other Lesage artisans. “Needlework is known to everyone,” embroiderer Anne-Claire Lockhart says, “but when we work with the Lunéville crochet hook, visitors are always amazed. This technique consists of working on the reverse side of the fabric; in other words, blindly.” Among embroideries Lesage executed for the collection is a floral motif on the front of a jacket consisting of 10,000 gold glass tubes, 5,000 pink porcelain beads, and six and a half meters of gold viscose and lurex thread. In discussing her craft, Lockhart echoes Bricout’s assertion about the length of time one can spend on a single look. “Even if the designers work quickly, even if the embroiderers are very fast, making an embroidery from A to Z takes time,” she says. “Time is at the heart of our profession.”
LES ATELIERS DE VERNEUIL-EN-HALATTE
Since 1990, the Ateliers de Verneuil-en-Halatte, named for the small French town north of Paris where they’re located, have been entrusted to produce Chanel’s handbags. One of the most iconic fashion pieces of all time, a Chanel bag comes to be through 180 operations, carried out by leatherworkers who train between four and five years on the elements of construction. “Each step in the creation of a bag is important and requires meticulous work,” says Steffy Leguen. “It’s like putting together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.” Leguen, who has been with the ateliers since 2015, created her first Métiers d’art pieces for the 2020–21 collection. “I made two bags in the shape of vanity cases that fasten like pouches,” she explains. “One is made in leather, the other in velvet. The latter was embroidered with beads and sequins.” Concentration, she says, is paramount, as the slightest deviation in stitching can lead to a bag that falls short of Chanel’s standards. To maintain her focus, Leguen pictured her work as part of the completed collection. “What drove me was imagining the pieces I was making on the catwalk,” she says. “That’s the very best reward for us.”
LEMARIÉ
“The discovery that a garment or an accessory could transmit a message, an idea, or a personality has always fascinated me,” says Margot Ambrosio. “[This industry] is about so much more than fashion. When you start to dig deeper it encompasses an infinite richness.” The Turin, Italy, native leaned into that fascination and, after studying styling and patternmaking in Paris, landed at Lemarié. The house, established in 1880, was initially dedicated solely to ornamental feathers. Today, in addition to featherwork, Lemarié produces flowers and various other adornments, including Chanel’s signature camellias. For Métiers d’art 2020–21, Ambrosio and her colleagues spent 60 hours constructing a jacket collar with organza ruffle satin and another 14 making bows in georgette and muslin that embellished a pair of leggings. “We do decorations, so we don’t know the finished look,” she says, adding that seeing the finished product is a highlight of her job. “We made the bows [but] we didn’t know that they were for leggings. The leggings were not expected.” While Chanel isn’t Lemarié’s only client—like the other ateliers, it works with various labels—the relationship is especially strong given that it dates back to the 1960s, when Gabrielle Chanel first started working with it. “Chanel knows the Métiers d’art very well,” Ambrosio says, “and they trust us.”
MASSARO
Massaro has been one of France’s most revered shoemakers since its inception in 1894, creating made-to-measure footwear for a discerning clientele in Paris. In 1957, Raymond Massaro, whose grandfather founded the house, further cemented its elite status when he made the first pair of Chanel’s now famous two-tone six-centimeter heels. It was this rich history that drew 21-year-old Pierre-Baptiste L’Hospital to Massaro, though his initial interest wasn’t in the high-fashion shoes he makes now. “For a while I was really into sneaker culture, and my hobby was restoring legendary basketball sneaker designs,” he says. “Gradually, I turned to shoes and to the trade of shoemaker-bootmaker.” L’Hospital joined Massaro in September 2020, just three months before the Métiers d’art show. “As a young craftsman, it was a lot of pressure, but the team spirit helped a lot.” This was his first time working with velvet goatskin, which Massaro used to make a pair of the collection’s heeled fold-over boots. “All the technical stages of the craft take quite a long time, but the seams are still the most time-consuming,” L’Hospital says. “People might be surprised to know that it requires the teamwork of several artisans to transform the raw material into a high-quality finished product, along with serious mental and physical concentration.”
ATELIER MONTEX
The final three looks of the Métiers d’art 2020–21 collection are all marked by shimmering cummerbund sashes, each embroidered with Swarovski crystals to depict the façade of Château de Chenonceau. One of them, which was paired with a black satin ball skirt and white organza blouse, was made over the course of 120 hours using 1,600 crystals and nearly 700 beads. For many, the task would be painfully tedious. For Yusif Munkaila, it was a welcome opportunity to use the savoir faire skills he’s been honing for more than 30 years. “I started working for Atelier Montex as an extra job in the evenings in 1989, for the special haute couture collection orders,” he says. “Then in 1990 I was hired full-time. I was the third embroiderer in the Cornely workshop.” Atelier Montex is widely known for its use of Cornely machines, which have been used for more than a century to produce chain-stitch embroideries. “The beauty of [an] embroidery depends on the stitch length, stitch height, and thread tension,” Munkaila says. “These adjustments require a great deal of practical experience with our Cornely machines.” Even through a computer screen, which is the only way to see the collection before it’s in boutiques, the detail of the sash is mesmerizing. As if 120 hours couldn’t possibly be enough time to make it.
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