The birdcage on the Chanel catwalk was empty, its door swung open. A metaphor for a house that is without a designer after Virginie Viard’s recent departure – the bird has flown – and a Chanel Easter egg, a wink to a teenage Vanessa Paradis swinging in a birdcage in a 1991 advertisement for Coco fragrance that was itself a reference to the birds Coco herself kept in her Paris home.
This birdcage was scaled for a golden eagle, almost reaching the 45-metre ceiling height of the Grand Palais – appropriate for a brand that has grown from Coco’s apartment to become a $20bn (£15bn) business.
