Nice Ads: Chanel's Collaged Campaign for Fall 2016

Karl Lagerfeld channels his collage-based inspiration into the brand’s latest campaign

Rerouting from monochrome minimalism, the new Chanel campaign is an electrifying collage of popping colors, abstract shapes and vibrant badges. In fact, that’s exactly the inspiration behind Karl Lagerfeld’s latest vision: a collage.

Speaking of the alternative artwork, the designer explained to WWD that he was simply “tired of a girl holding a handbag” and so, seeks to overlay chic tradition with the impulsive currents of his creative process.  Lagerfeld added, “I love collages and I thought the collection was really suitable for collages. I wanted to do something else that we have never done before. It is not an artistic research. It is an inspiration without roots—spontaneous. And making collages with a computer was impossible before.”

The ads feature models Mariacarla Boscono and Sarah Brannon who were styled by Carine Roitfeld. Snaps of the models in all-black ensembles are pasted onto bright, textiled backgrounds—each image being strung together with cartoon stickers and pearls. Refreshingly, there is something quite novel, if not slightly juvenile, about the Fall 2016 ads which magnify Lagerfeld’s playful and experimental vision. And although Chanel's signature sophistication is far from threatened, the campaign reins us back to the artwork, mismatching and fundamental fun upon which fashion is founded.

View the Chanel Fall 2016 campaign below.

Originally published in V Magazine