‘I’ve loved Chinese screens since I was 18 years old… I nearly fainted with joy when, entering a Chinese shop, I saw a Coromandel for the first time,’ said Coco Chanel in 1983’s Chanel Solitaire, by Claude Delay. The famed French couturier had a passion for the romantic images of China’s Imperial cities and landscapes, depicted in glossy gold, carmine and black lacquer on folding panels. In her lifetime, she invested in 32 antique Coromandel screens (named after the south-east Indian coast from which they were shipped to European markets), using them to furnish her homes and hotel suites from Paris to New York.
Chanel’s 2018 ‘Coromandel’ high-jewellery collection celebrated Coco Chanel’s passion for Chinese lacquerware. Exquisite art deco-centric designs featured mother-of-pearl and lacquer landscapes, with cloud, camellia and bird motifs imagined in gold, diamonds and tsavorite garnets. In his role as creative director of the maison (1982-2019), Karl Lagerfeld celebrated Chanel’s passion for Chinese heritage with collections referencing Chinese porcelain and the seductive qipao silhouette. Its 2010 pre-fall collection, shown against the backdrop of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, featured seductive Mandarin collar tailoring, Oriental bloom gowns, cone hats, and swathes of lacquer red and Ming blue.
Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel's Apartment in Paris, France
Textile artwork by Wu Guanzhen.
In April 2019, Chanel’s Mademoiselle Privé exhibition – a show celebrating the creative pillars of the maison – was presented at Shanghai’s West Bund Art Center. As part of the show, Chinese artist Wu Guanzhen reinterpreted Coco Chanel’s collection of Coromandel screens into three landscape-focused artworks titled Lofty Mountain, Early Spring and Garden of Pleasure.
Métiers d'Art Collection, Shanghai, China, 2009.
Karl Lagerfeld.
INFORMATION
-
Clocking on: the bedside analogue timepieces that won’t alarm your aestheticWe track down the only tick-tocks that matter, nine traditional alarm clocks that tell the time with minimum fuss and maximum visual impact
-
Architecture, sculpture and materials: female Lithuanian artists are celebrated in NîmesThe Carré d'Art in Nîmes, France, spotlights the work of Aleksandra Kasuba and Marija Olšauskaitė, as part of a nationwide celebration of Lithuanian culture
-
‘There is more work to be done in the garden’: Dries Van Noten on deciding to grow his burgeoning beauty lineFor Dries Van Noten, 2024 has been a landmark year. After stepping down from fashion in June, the designer speaks to Wallpaper* about a new focus on nurturing the brand’s beauty line and spending more time in his beloved garden
-
Bottega Veneta constructs ‘invisible' pop-up in ShanghaiConceived by creative director Daniel Lee, the three metre-high, 100 sq m mirrored cuboid continues Bottega Veneta’s subversive denouncement of self-promotion
-
Ripple effect: Trongyee’s undulating Shantou boutiqueShenzen-based firm AD Architecture has conceived a rippling, pared-back retail design for Shantou, China-located luxury womenswear boutique Trongyee
-
The China List: Jean Paul Gaultier, FashionWallpaper* and China’s Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development Fund (CHSDF) present China By Design—a celebration of Chinese cultural heritage and the many global creatives who have been inspired by it.
-
Playing it spool inside Annakiki’s thread-stacked boutique -
Atelier Tao+c designs monochrome multi-brand boutique in Zhengzhou -
AIM designs steely cosmetics boutique in Hong Kong -
Inside SND’s ceremonial boutique in China’s Chongqing -
Eckhaus Latta opens first store in New York City’s Chinatown
