The theatricality was on full display for Chanel’s annual Métiers d’Art show as they took over a decommissioned New York Subway station subway station beneath Bowery on the Lower East Side.
The show opened with an Indian model who had first been discovered by Chanel creative director Matthieu Blazy while waiting for a Subway train. The models in the show arrived by train to show off their looks. Among the invited guests was Bernie Wagenblast, one of the voices of the MTA’s announcements. Even the invitations evoked a sense of the exclusiveness of the event:
Rumors about a subway set spread after the invitations arrived, each with a necklace featuring two tiny silver Chanel-branded subway cars, a vintage subway-map poster of the city, and a “Chanel Gazette” newspaper in which Blazy romanticizes the subway as a place where students and world leaders sit side by side. Would any of them actually be wearing Chanel? Given the current absurdity of the prices — $7,000 for a bag, $2,000 for a pair of shoes, $22,000 for a jacket — that’s unlikely. But in Chanel’s universe, the subway is a cinematic fantasy …
The quotes from attendees are laughably revealing. One commented on how they couldn’t believe Chanel constructed an entire Subway station for the show (not realizing it was an actual station at one time). Another admitted she hadn’t been on the Subway in “quite a while” as she put on the hand warmers supplied to attendees by the brand. Despite these elite vibes, I imagine if any of the rest of us had received an invitation like this, we would be the first to accept and show up. Which in itself is a great reminder that no matter what you’re selling, if you can create a powerful story of exclusivity and the sense that an event will really be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, people will show up. Even if they have to wear hand warmers to enjoy it.