A very special emotion arises when CHANEL welcomes a long-time friend. Charlotte Casiraghi, the new CHANEL ambassador and spokesperson, illuminates the campaign for the Spring-Summer 2021 Ready-to-Wear collection, shot in the legendary principality of Monaco by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. 

“The story around Charlotte’s life in Monaco started with the cinematic idea of day for night”, explain the Dutch photography duo. “Staging the set ups in similar locations both at night and during the day was the starting point for this series in which Charlotte fluctuates between dream and reality. Is she real, we wonder, or is she an apparition wandering in a place she might not fully belong to?” An ode to the seventh art where enchantment competes with fascination. “Charlotte has a mysterious quality, a push-pull duality that emphasizes our play on the merging of reality and dream,” they add. 

Day and night, in black and white or in colour, by a swimming pool or in the privacy of a bedroom, Charlotte Casiraghi embodies, in this mythical Monaco, a specific idea of cinema that inspired Virginie Viard for the collection. 

Certain words come to mind when contemplating these silhouettes, like the flashbulbs on a red carpet. Starting with glamour: a long, sleeveless black tweed gilet decorated with bows worn over flowing trousers, a suit in iridescent black tweed with a satin collar and cuffs, a chiffon ensemble embroidered with sequins, a leather jacket and skirt, a black strapless dress in tweed and chiffon. Then sophistication: a long dress in pleated chiffon printed with the letters "CHANEL", a pink and navy blue dress belted like a cardigan, an ecru dress in cotton tweed emphasised with braid, a long dress in crêpe de Chine printed with small flowers. Finally, joy and colour: a red cashmere embroidered sweater over a pair of capri pants, a striped tweed dress adorned with jewelled buttons. 

The CHANEL Spring-Summer 2021 Ready-to-Wear collection will be in boutiques from March 2nd 2021. 

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