All aboard Chanel Airways as Lagerfeld's imagination takes flight

British model Edie Campbell opens the show. REUTERS
Models present creations for Chanel during the 2016 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show. AFP
Models present creations for Chanel during the 2016 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show. AFP
Models present creations for Chanel during the 2016 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show. AFP
Models present creations for Chanel during the 2016 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show. AFP
Models present creations for Chanel during the 2016 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show. AFP
Models present creations for Chanel during the 2016 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show. AFP

PARIS (REUTERS) - Fasten your seatbelts, we're ready to take-off for spring at Chanel's mock airport departure lounge catwalk.

Director Karl Lagerfeld filled Paris' Grand Palais with a Chanel Airlines check-in desk, waiting area, flight information board and a No. 5 gate - a nod to the brand's famed perfume - to present his spring/summer 2016 collection on Tuesday.

Model Edie Campbell kicked off the show in a pink and green check jumpsuit while wheeling a black quilted luggage trolley into the hall.

Other models followed in coloured tweed boucle jackets with matching pleated skirts falling just over the knee, wide-leg trousers and embroidered denim ensembles.

The aviation theme was evident with aeroplane and departure board prints adorning several outfits.

The staple Chanel suit came in monochrome print or pastel colours, tied at the waist with a ribbon.

There was plenty of glitz in shiny silver evening tops and jackets worn with black skirts, sometimes over trousers.

Large aviator sunglasses, baseball caps, silver gloves and silver and plastic booties or sandals completed looks.

"It was about shine, the reflection of the sun on the airplanes," Lagerfeld, 82, said.

"We did so much gold... at Chanel that it was fun to make everything silver and chrome."

Lagerfeld is known for his fashion show settings and has created a mock casino, supermarket and brasserie in the past.

His Chanel airport, set against a backdrop of a blue sky and white clouds, was a nod to the past glamorous jet age, with not a single stressed traveller in sight.

"This is the idea of the way (an airport) should be. In a way, it was like this but then they were smaller and flying was another business," he said.

"But this is a kind of place for a take-off to all kinds of directions and all kinds of situations."

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