Chanel wows with volcanic set

Chanel has the deepest pockets in the business, and its mega-production runway shows are always jaw-dropping spectacles - even when the clothes they showcase leave the audience of feeling a tad perplexed.

That was the case at Tuesday's fall-winter 2011-12 ready-to-wear collection, a parade of post-punk pantsuits and wide-cut jackets in charcoal tweed by designer Karl Lagerfeld that at first glance looked like a harder sell than the pretty pastel skirts and snug tweed jackets that women worldwide lust over.

But even if the clothes themselves didn't take the crowd's breath away, the set did.

Paris' mammoth glass-and-steel domed Grand Palais was transformed into a boulder-strewn volcanic island, complete with faux steam that wafted out from beneath the wooden catwalk and wide expanses of powdery synthetic volcanic ash strewn with fake boulders.

The start of the show resembled a big-budget science fiction flick. Like mother-ships touching down, two luminous oversized screens emblazoned with the house' enjoined double C logo descended to ground level and lowered like ramps to reveal the backlit silhouettes of a pack of models.

They walked the boardwalk in ample pleat-fronted tweed trousers and dramatic capes or wide, cropped jackets that looked like the chunky cousins of the house's hallmark slim-fitting jackets.

They wore flat, pointy shoes with chunky socks that bunched at the ankle.

Freja Beha Erichsen, the house's model of the moment, was transformed into a walking Chanel handbag, sheathed in a long-sleeved jumpsuit in the same shiny black quilted fabric the label's blockbuster purses are made from.

The show didn't generate the same level of enthusiastic applause that Chanel shows usually do, but experts agreed that wouldn't matter much.

"It reminded me of what Karl did for his own line in the '80s - very dramatic, very mod, very German stuff," said fashion critic Dana Thomas, author of the industry expose "Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster."

"Every once in a while, Karl veers off in that direction, almost as it to shake us out of our pastel tweed Chanel dreams. Even those collections always have their pulse on the cultural moment, even if they're not Chanel at its prettiest."

But, she added, Lagerfeld "always manages to put in really pretty pieces that are going to appeal the Chanel customer."

Ken Downing, senior vice president and fashion director for Neiman Marcus, agreed.

"Chanel shows generate so much excitement, so much drama, they can't help but excite the clients," he said after the show. "I guarantee you that as soon as I get back to New York, I'm going to have lots of calls from clients requesting this or that piece. They are on Style.com as we speak."

After the show, the crowd of thousands refused to disperse, milling around in the hopes of catching a glimpse of Lagerfeld, or even exchanging a word with him.

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