stroll along the sea bed with Mr. Lagerfeld and the stingrays

Wow, after such a boring week of the highly anticipated Paris fashion week, there was something to be excited about. There seem to be a lot of designer who have been inspired by the sea and what is under it. The fascination with mer-people started off at Marchesa in New York and carried on to Riccardo Tisci's latest Givenchy and now Chanel.

The collection was cleverly thought through with the usual colour palette seen in the spring and in a Chanel collection; sea foams, pretty seashell pinks, pale seaweed green, pearlescent white and of course black. The dresses were short and youthful, they are frothy and almost flowy. The fabric were shredded then sewed back on the dress that is reminiscent of seaweeds, flowers, anemones, and corals; those wonderful but subtle things you would see under the sea.

This collection seem new for Chanel, it looks new or newer and more experimental than past seasons; which was just different colour tweeds cut in different ways with an androgynous twist. This seems very feminine and light. Not too much to think about. This season Mr. Lagerfeld explores new things like pearlescent sequins and that couture/ cocoon shaped shoulders which we have been seeing everywhere, the see-thru plastics which had print on them of course. He also brought in the pearls which is so iconic for Chanel, he made them into belts, necklaces, hair pieces and buttons.

The accessories were the best part for me personally. As you may know I love the ocean, the sea creatures and anything that you can find in the sea or on the beach. The clutch bags were either geometric shaped which look like some kind of metallic rock or they were beautiful natural things you find in the sea like seashells which were giant cowries, some were encrusted with pearls. Or like a parcel wrapped in Chanel chains which almost look like lost-then-found treasures from under the sea. Absolutely adorable! Also those shiny sea urchins earrings which actually look like a bluetooth earphone for a mobile phone were smart. My favourite though was the basket/netted bag that was covered in little pieces of corals you would actually find on the beach. I mean I wouldn't carry one but I would happily put it on my shelf and treat it like a piece of art!

It was utterly and completely clever for the designers to choose to do these ready-to-wear collections at this time when the economy is taking another dip into the recession. Mr. Lagerfeld definitely knew what he was doing, showing such a strong collection of accessories is very smart since it will probably sell best and using the material he is using in this collection. Like the shiny patent leather and lots of plastics including the pearls, i'm guessing is going to cost less than those iconic bag in lambskin! Even those metallic shoes weren't made of leather! Standing or "gliding" across the runway was a gigantic manta-ray, I thought that it was such a miss opportunity to not show any manta-ray skin but I guess that would cost too much!