One of France's leading ambassadors, fashion, is exhibited at the Grand Palais. Since the Nave was reopened, a number of designers have unveiled their collections there.
One of the leading figures in world couture, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, has been inspired by the enormous potential of the Grand Palais since 2006. Yet, the building's appeal goes back much further: "I first discovered the Grand Palais when I was a child, at a Car Show! However one of my fondest memories dates from the end of the nineteen sixties, when I attended a Maurice Béjart ballet in this amazing venue", explains Lagerfeld.
Whether for ready-to-wear or high fashion collections, only the most imaginative and sumptuous decors will do. For the spring-summer collection in 2008, the models emerged, slender and graceful, from a monumental jacket erected in the Nave.
For the 2008-2009 autumn-winter prêt-à-porter season, Chanel's iconic accessories, the quilted handbags, tweed jackets, camellias, and two-tone court shoes spun round on a gigantic jewellery roundabout. The imagination of the stage designers is apparently unbounded.
Other reputed fashion houses have been drawn by the magic of the Grand Palais. Since 2006, Yves Saint Laurent has also demonstrated his talent as a producer. At the 2008-2009 autumn-winter prêt-à-porter collection, the designer stunned the public and journalists alike when his models appeared with mop-top black wigs contrasting with immaculate white veils.
The Belgian designer Dries Van Noten went down a completely different road staging his show in the basement of the Grand Palais. Each to his own then, but pure dreams every time.
