The new Paris block: How Chanel is betting big on Australia

Résumé détaillé

With the opening of its newly renovated Flinders Lane boutique, following the mammoth Sydney replica show, the relationship between Australia and the French luxury house has never been stronger.

You've used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.

As you enter the newly renovated Chanel boutique on Flinders Lane in Melbourne, you’re met by a 16-metre-tall string of pearls that rises through the centre of a sculptural staircase, not unlike the mirrored one in Gabrielle Chanel’s historic Paris apartment on 31 Rue Cambon, where she would famously perch during shows to observe audience reactions without being seen.

Bordered by a wall of volcanic black tile on one side, and white crystallised glass-ceramic on another, the towering structure sways ever so slightly as people navigate the stairwell, with apertures drawing in light and changing the colour of the space as the day progresses.

Aptly titled Gigantic Gold Necklace, the artwork was commissioned from French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel. Made of gold leaf and glass pearls, it recalls the sautoirs worn by Mademoiselle Chanel.

Every Chanel boutique doubles as a history lesson in the life of Chanel, but Flinders Lane is perhaps the closest to evoking the style and energy of her original home in Paris.

It’s among the most impressive Chanel boutiques in the South-East Asia region, and indeed the world, says Bruno Pavlovsky, unintentionally delivering a deathly blow to anyone who’s ever asserted Sydney’s position as top fashion dog.

“It’s the best boutique in Australia and probably the best boutique, or one of the best boutiques, for Chanel in the world,” the president of fashion at Chanel tells this masthead, while visiting Sydney for the Cruise 2026/27 Replica show, a restaging of creative director Mattieu Blazy’s debut cruise collection, first shown in Biarritz last April.

Sitting on a lounge with the Sydney Harbour Bridge peeking over his shoulder, Pavlovsky is amiable and surprisingly unguarded for a man who has helmed the fashion division of the world’s most influential luxury house since 2004.

“It’s a big statement for the brand,” Pavlovsky says of Flinders Lane, noting…

Début de l'article, extrait de WAtoday. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.