Cara Delevingne has unveiled Chanel's new Paris-Salzburg pre-AW15 campaign on Instagram, shot by Karl Lagerfeld. Delevingne, Pharrell Williams and Hudson Kroenig – the toddler son of Lagerfeld's all-American muse Brad Koenig – are photographed wearing knee-high lace boots, knitted cardigans and floral pattern shirts while staring straight down the lens of the camera. Your typical Austrian family lederhosen, this is not.
There's an aura of renaissance art about the clothes and the poses, in keeping with Chanel's recent desire to look back through time. Lagerfeld hosted the Pre-AW15 Métiers d’Art show in an 18th century Salzburg palace and this campaign offers a similar throwback, with Delevingne, Williams and Koenig's assuming the positions of medieval royalty posed for a painting.
Delevingne and Williams have forged quite the relationship over the past six months. The pair recorded a song for Reincarnation, Karl Lagerfeld's Chanel film, then performed it together at the Metiers d'Arts re-staging earlier this month in New York. Pharrell has also made a name for himself in the fashion world, most notably with that hat and was voted CFDA Fashion Icon of the year.
The stately collection certainly channels bygone eras while remaining distinctly wearable. But what do you make of it? A tasteful rehash of a luxurious past or a throwback too far?
Watch Reincarnation below:
