Chanel has announced that its next Métiers d’Art show will be held on 7 December in Manchester, England. The Métiers d’Art show is held in cities that inspire the house and past iterations have been held in Tokyo and Dakar. Manchester’s rich industrial past and deep connections to music and art culture have landed it on Chanel’s map.
Destination shows have drastically ramped up since the pandemic. In the last six months, Dior showed in India; Gucci showed in Seoul; Saint Laurent in Berlin and Versace in Los Angeles. Chanel itself also showed its cruise collection in LA, which it will repeat in Chinese city Shenzhen this November. The shows — which invite VIP attendees and take place outside of the high-volume of tentpole fashion seasons — can drive crucial buzz for brands during otherwise quiet calendar moments.
As the world’s first industrial city, Manchester, is best known for being an industrial hub for textiles in the 19th century. The city and its surrounding boroughs were once home to over 100 cotton mills, fondly known as “Cottonopolis”. The city’s architecture still reflects its history in textiles, with the mostly now-defunct mills converted into housing forming most of the city’s skyline.
In more recent years the city has become renowned for its connection to music, as the birthplace of bands The Smiths, Joy Division, New Order and Oasis.
Chanel will be the first major luxury house to show in the UK second city, but Manchester has been known to inspire collections from designers like Raf Simons and Haider Ackermann, who showed in Manchester last year to present his collaboration with Fila.
Chanel said in a statement “Métiers d’Art collections are designed to show off Chanel’s speciality ateliers, from milliner Maison Michel to embroiderers Lésage, which the brand has gradually acquired over the last forty years, Presented in cities and places that inspire the House, from Tokyo to New York, via Dakar last year, this collection bears witness to the historic commitment of Chanel to this exceptional artisanal heritage and its influence around the world.”
