Opening for fashion in Marseille 1988
Certainly the most exciting adventure of my career, it involved both a decentralization of fashion culture, and my first experience of major corporate sponsorship to acquire 24 exceptional pieces from Mademoiselle Chanel's wardrobe. It took me just nine months to convince 24 major corporate patrons, far removed from fashion, to help us create this first clothing heritage for the fashion museum. The support of Karl Lagerfeld, Françoise Montenay, General Manager of Chanel Fashion, and Marie Louise de Clermont Tonnerre, Director of International Relations, was decisive in accompanying Catherine Ormen, the young curator, and myself in this adventure. We were also guided by the commitment of the President of the Institut Mode Méditerranée, Azzedine Alaïa.
Staged by Jean Michel Wilmotte, eighty silhouettes captured the interest of visitors in an imaginary dialogue between a woman with an exceptional destiny and an ebullient Artistic Director, Karl Lagerfeld. We were keen to show the ingenuity and simplicity of the cuts, choice of materials and accessories that underlined the elegance of Chanel style, past and present. For the duration of the exhibition, the Château Borely was a fashion stopover, before traveling to Tokyo the following year. This was the first international exhibition in Japan for this prestigious label and for the newly created Marseille Fashion Museum. Chanel continues to support the singularity of our institution, which is open to the Mediterranean stylistic trend. Bruno Pavlosvky, President of Fashion Activities and Chanel SAS, and Françoise Montenay, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Chanel SAS, are directors and patrons of the Maison Mode Méditerranée.
