On 21st February 2023, the House of CHANEL accompanied the Opéra National de Paris Ballet tribute to Patrick Dupond, a Principal dancer and former director of dance at the Opera, who passed away in 2021.
For this occasion, CHANEL designed the decor of the Grand Staircase at the Palais Garnier. Echoing the ribbons of ballet shoes and the world of couture, big wooden bows overhang the steps, playing on the metaphor of movement. Following the traditional Défilé, which brings together all the dancers on stage, from the students at the Dance school to the Étoiles, the guests, including Vanessa Paradis, Whitney Peak, Lyna Khoudri, Karidja Touré and Alma Jodorowsky, watched three ballets: Vaslaw by John Neumeier, Le Chant du compagnon errant
by Maurice Béjart and Études by Harald Lander. They were then invited to a dinner followed
by an afterparty in the members’ rotunda, with DJs Agathe Mougin and Wladimir Schall.
CHANEL and dance
Gabrielle Chanel was seduced by the exactitude and creativity of dancers early on in her life and career. In 1913, the couturière was left stunned after a performance of The Rite of Spring choreographed by Nijinsky for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. She financed its 1920 revival, thanks to the success of her couture house and her personal connections with the artistic avant-garde. Four years later, she created the highly
innovative costumes for the ballet Le Train bleu by Bronislava Nijinska, with its libretto by Jean Cocteau, music by Darius Milhaud, sets by Henri Laurens and stage curtain by Picasso. This was followed in 1928 by costumes for Balanchine and Stravinsky’s Apollon Musagète, and in 1939 for Léonide Massine and Salvador Dalí’s Bacchanale – which were unfortunately never used as the Second World War broke out.
In turn, Karl Lagerfeld, as artistic director at CHANEL and designer, continued this fruitful relationship by designing numerous costumes for ballets. In 2018, a year before his death, he created the costumes for the B/olero pas de deux, from Ohad Naharin’s majestic Decadance. By becoming patron of the Opéra de Paris dance season’s opening Gala in 2018, and then by reinforcing its support as patron of the Paris Opera Ballet, the House of CHANEL is supporting creation and contributing to the diffusion of dance to as many people as possible, alongside this world-renowned institution. The costumes for Serge Lifar’s Variations in 2019 and Victor Gsovsky’s Grand Pas classique set to the music of Auber in 2021 perfectly demonstrate the collaboration between CHANEL, the Fashion Métiers d’art – such as the embroiderer Lesage – and the specialists in the Opera’s costume ateliers. Thus, since 2021, during each Défilé du Ballet, the Étoiles wear costumes and tiaras created by CHANEL under the artistic direction of Virginie Viard.
This year, the House of CHANEL renews its support for all the artistic projects at the Paris
Opera Ballet while celebrating its active links with the world of dance.
