Thursday August 13, 2009
Behind the scenes
By S.S. YOGA
The intricate work of the ateliers is what gives the Chanel label its deserved haute couture stamp.
EVERYONE was going about their work calmly. You could see the concentration on their faces as they worked on the dresses and outfits. Despite the show being only six hours away, the atmosphere can best be described as serene.
All the toiling was for the Chanel haute couture fall/winter 2009/2010 show in Paris held on July 6.
This was the scene at one of the three ateliers housed in Chanel’s prestigious main boutique and fashion office along the famous rue Cambon stretch of Paris. All the separate parts of the outfits are finally put together here.
It was amazing that whole outfits were still being pieced together so late in the day. And that there wasn’t any shouting or screaming, and hair being pulled out in frustration. This was because they were artisans, passionate about what they were doing. They were professionals who were used to such situations, or so I learnt during my visit there last month.
The ateliers are each headed by a première d’atelier (head of workshop) called the première main. By tradition, the workshop carries the name of the head. The première main is the one that translates and visualises Karl Lagerfeld’s (Chanel’s creative director) design sketches into a toile (pattern).
A painting by Brazilian Beatriz Milhazes that inspired Karl Lagerfeld’s designs for Chanel’s haute couture fall/winter 2009/2010 collection. There’s a strict hierarchy and the head commands between 20 to 50 people. He or she will then do the model fitting with Lagerfeld at his studio.
For the tailleur (suits), Madame Jacqueline (they are usually addressed by their first names) is the supervisor for work on stiff fabrics, jackets, overcoats and the famous suits. For flou (soft), Madame Cecile and Madame Martine are the ones who work on the soft fluid fabrics. This include dresses, blouses and skirts.
With couture, it’s all about the details and the fine, intricate, stylised handmade work that goes into it. Sometimes, some of the work is done by associated ateliers.
Chanel works with seven ateliers – Michel (hats), Lesage (embroidery), Lemarié (feathers and camellias), Massaro (shoes), Guillet (floral designs), Goosens (gold and silversmith) and Desrues (costume jewellery).
Many of them are family-run ateliers and still have a current generation of the family heading the business. However, very few fashion houses do couture anymore (and even luxury ready-to-wear), and there is increasing competition from other countries like Hong Kong, China, India and now, even Madagascar.
To preserve this specialised artistic heritage, Chanel has bought over some of these ateliers. But they are not tied exclusively to Chanel and are allowed to do work for other fashion houses, too.
All that glitters
At Lesage, Francois Lesage still continues the work done by his parents Albert and Marie-Louise since 1924. The 80-year-old took over the business when he was 20. In 2002, he joined the house of Chanel.
As the fashion world is not just about evolution but revolution, many designs are inspired or tweaked from previous designs.
It’s fortunate that Lesage has the largest collection of fashion embroidery archives in the world. It also stocks 60 tonnes of supply including iridescent crystal, jet from the 1870s, cabochons, rhinestones and glass beads from the 1920s. And every colour of thread imaginable.
Lesage could not make it for the interview but his trusted stylist Emily Barell provided the much needed answers. Barell is relatively new in the trade, but has gained the confidence and approval of Lesage.
While we weren’t able to view the work done on Chanel’s current collection, we were shown samples, and watched them working on other collections for other designers.
“I never see the finished pieces myself. I will get to see it tomorrow at the show,” said Barell, who studied at Central Saint Martin (specialising in textiles) and did a stint at Lesage’s school for embroidery as well.
The end product, a gorgeous strapless gown. Barell said that sometimes, Lagerfeld gets early inspiration and sends them the concept well in advance, but the design evolves with time. For this collection, the whole process up to the time the finished work (at Lesage’s end) reached Chanel took six weeks.
“Lagerfeld draws the sketches and gives it to the première main, who checks to see if it is feasible. He then fashions the fabric and design. A drawing is prepared for Lagerfeld’s approval and then, it is printed on the base of the fabric.
“For this show, he had gone to the Cartier Foundation exhibition in Paris and was taken up with a particular painting (Coisa Linda I) by this famous Brazilian painter called Beatriz Milhazes, which has lots of movement, and overlapping of circles and colours. I discussed the concept with Monsieur Lesage and then, made a few samples for Karl. I spoke with Virginie (Viard, Chanel’s creative studio director) and the fabric department about the base and colour scheme,” explained Barell.
This process goes back and forth until they arrive at the final look. Barell added that she was quite inspired by the colours and textures this time round.
“Sometimes, I don’t like what I have done and show it to Monsieur Lesage. If he says he likes it, he’ll show it to Karl anyway. Karl’s quite open. Once, I was inspired by the classic Chanel chain and prepared one made out of varnished leather. Karl liked it though I didn’t,” she said.
She related how he gave another detailed image that had circles and looked like feathers to her. “It took a long time to glue the feathers (which came from Lemarié) into place. Sometimes, you work until your hands bleed.
Lemarié’s duo of artistic director Eric Charles-Donatien (left) and Lemarié Chanel production head Sophie Lartigue. “It’s lovely working with Chanel as they’re quite open to ideas and there’s a lot of creativity involved. With some other labels, they’d ask for something inspired by the 1960s for example, and take a stack of samples of work done in that period. And then, they choose a few and ask us to work on those.”
She admires Lagerfeld because his mind works on so many levels and he has a global view.
“So many people in fashion only think and talk fashion. He sees what happens globally and translates that into his designs,” she explained.
The embroidery technique for beads and sequins employed on the reverse of the fabric used by Lesage is called Luneville (named after the town in France that started it in the early 19th century). “It’s faster this way actually. And both sides come out looking beautiful.”
Feather work
Over at Lemarié, artistic director Eric Charles-Donatien and a beaming Sophie Lartigue, Lemarié Chanel production head, took me through the process. Founded in 1880 and bought over by Chanel in 1996, it is one of the few remaining feather workshops in France.
The last Lemarié, André, retired in 2000 and was acknowledged by Lagerfeld as the King of the Camellias, the iconic flower of Chanel (Coco’s favourite). A lesser known craft is their expertise in smocking, inserts and ruffles.
The work area seemed rather cramped with rows of feathers wrapped in brown paper stacked up at one end but that did not faze the artisans hard at work. It must be difficult to preserve the delicate feathers.
“We need to protect them from the light, dust and insects. We can’t use plastic as it will damage the feathers. And we use moth balls to keep the insects away. In the basement, we even have some still attached to the dried wings, which are at least 60 to 80 years old,” said Charles-Donatien with a laugh.
According to him, they have subscribed to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora since 1973, that forbids the use of birds other than those reared for food. As such, only the feathers from birds such as the chicken, duck, goose, turkey, ostrich and the guinea fowl are used. They also dye the feathers themselves.
For the camellias, they work with all kinds of fabric including silk, wool, velvet, organza, cotton, leather and even vinyl.
Different techniques ranging from pressing to heating up the fabric (with an ancient tool that resembles a joystick) so that it curls to resemble flower petals.
“We even made a huge camellia with feathers glued on each petal with eight different colours. We also use laser to give gold trimmings on the petals and ruffles,” said Lartique.
Everything done at the ateliers involves hours of painstaking work. At Lemarié, the work varied from 10 hours to 100 hours for the seven garments for this collection. At Lesage, it ranged from 80 hours to 500 hours for 15 pieces. The one with feathers (10,000 were used) took about 400 hours.
No wonder the work of these ateliers help ensure that clothes with the Chanel label deserve that haute couture stamp.
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