Chanel Chose Dakar to Unveil its Latest Métiers d’Art 2022/23

Chanel made history as the first European luxury brand to organize a fashion show in sub-Saharan Africa.

Chanel ends the year in style and glamour with an unprecedented fashion show. The Maison has left the centre of Paris to move to the heart of the old Palace of Justice in Dakar, Senegal, where it has made history by presenting its first fashion show in Africa.

Dakar is the result of meetings held over the past three years between Virginie Viard and choreographers, directors, musicians, and writers with friends of the Maison, who are the plural inspiration for this journey. –

Paris, Shanghai, New York, Tokyo, and Monte Carlo were the locations where the Maison presented the Métiers d’Art, and now it has been the turn of Senegal.

“Presented each year in December, the Métiers d’Art Collection has been offering a ready-to-wear collection since 2002 – outside the official calendar – to showcase the exceptional savoir-faire, and work of artisans, including the jeweller Desrues, the feather maker Lemarié, the milliner Maison Michel, the shoemaker Massaro, the embroiderers Lesage and Montex, and the glove maker Causse,” announced director Ladj Lyand Kourtrajmé moments before the presentation.

Immediately following Dakar Fashion Week, the brand collaborated with local artists, dancers, musicians, and writers, highlighting them both at the presentation and throughout the week. The strong programming could have overshadowed the clothes, which Chanel’s show notes described as inspired by “the pop-soul-fun-disco-punk decade” of the 1970s. Virginie Viard presented a bohemian-centric collection that brought the crowd to a standing ovation.

The entire collection mood the spirit of the ’70s, with very distinct patterns from that era. Bell bottoms, earthy colours, oversized shirt collars, vests, and long necklaces or turbans were the leitmotivs of this latest Chanel proposal.

As for next season’s trends, the main protagonists will be the prints. In addition to the seventies designs and tweed suits typical of the firm, the designer opted for a mix of prints, including stripes, diamonds, animals and, of course, checks. Warm colours will be a ‘must’, making a timid appearance Viva Magenta, the colour of 2023 according to Pantone.

Virginie Viard also looked beyond Senegal. Tailoring and menswear shapes were inspired by the sartorialist subculture of Sapeur du Congo, as were the thick-soled shoes. Almost invisible after long and complex fabric development processes, some of the beaded materials and patterns originated in Africa.

“A profusion of colour and vivid motifs inspired by the energy of the 1970s are mixed with the emblematic codes of the House – camellias, intertwined pearls, abundant jewelled buttons and dazzling sequins, – reinvented by Virginie Viard in a creative dialogue with the artisans of CHANEL’s Maisons d’art.” – Chanel.

Take a closer look at Chanel Métiers d’Art Pre-Fall 2022/23 Collection