Chanel’s camellias, empty chairs close Paris Fashion Week

By THOMAS ADAMSON
AP Fashion Writer

PARIS (AP) — Colossal camellias served as the ready-to-wear altarpiece for Chanel’s sparkling, bloom-inspired fall display. It was the flower that launched a thousand designs. Legend has it that the camellia first became Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s obsession in 1913 when she pinned one to her belt — seduced, the house said, by its “simplicity, shape, purity and vitality.” Over a century later, the flower is still center stage. As ever, there was a restraint in Viard’s aesthetic. Meanwhile, Miuccia Prada’s baby sister brand Miu Miu presented a study in off-kilter creativity on Paris Fashion Week’s last day. Labor strikes across France on Tuesday persuaded some fashion editors to leave early.