The inspiration behind the CHANEL Spring Couture Show 2020 was rather obvious from the beginning, to anyone who has even a remote knowledge of Gabrielle Chanel’s past. Reminiscent of the brand’s founder’s childhood in the convent of Aubazine where she was sent after her mother’s death, the setting took the form of a monastic garden. The concept was a tribute to Gabrielle’s early, formative years and her first style references as impressed upon her by the convent’s nuns.

Big and long fits, embroidered skirts, tulle overskirts, uniform-like dresses, suit jackets, airy cloaks, pointed collars and dreamy embellishments, along with a palette of black, gray, mauve, cream, and white, evoked a sense of simplicity and wearability through a redefined prism of austerity. Virginie Viard found an ingenious way of transmuting what is aesthetically considered obsolete into a modern fashion proposal, and her overall work delivered a brand-new feel of lightness and freedom. “I think it’s good to make clothes for women in a summer spirit. It is so pleasant to go barefoot and wear a long skirt and a big, cotton grandfather shirt, or lace pieces”, Viard explains, by way of admitting to her inclination towards easy going and self-indulgent style.

Maturity meets girliness, rustic meets urban and classic CHANEL meets the brand’s new age in a collection that describes contemporary woman as a transcending creature that can combine pretty much everything, while maintaining her elegance. And although Karl used to consider the whole nun inspiration “ugly”, as Virginie Viard herself stated, it looks like it brought her creativity to the exact place it needed to be in order to bloom. The perfect fashion garden.