Chanel
Coco Chanel
designer
experience
Gabrielle Chanel
CHANEL EXPERIENCE!
09:41Hi there queens and kangs,
Those who know me know that my shabby-chic-£1-thrifting-ass has never owned a single iota of anything designer...unless, of course, it has been acquired through sisterly theft. [Dont you worry. It's legal.]Moreover, I have never really been one to covet anything upwards of £1, let alone designer. Partly due to insufficient funds; partly due to the socialist within. I mean, to me its unnecessary pomp and pageantry as well as status affirming nature - puts me right off. I could give less than two shits about brands- but two shits will suffice. Also, Frugality runs deep within my bloodline- just ask my dad.
So imagine my surprise when I ended up joining my beautiful capitalist-loving-shopaholic-antonym of a sister at a Chanel pop up in Bond Street. The socialist in me started drinking champagne.
This was Our Chanel Experience:
We arrived, fresh faced, Bushy tailed. Unsure of what was in store but eager to delve head first into the experience. Waiting in the small queue outside were some kind faces. We introduced ourselves and got on so well with a few of the lovely ladies.
At 11, we went in. The space had a v. minimalistic decor with splashes of muted gold. There were various sections within the gallery. One artistically showing what special ingredients go into the new Gabrielle Chanel perfume, whilst a tunnel of shattered glass cascaded into a cinematography room where the Kirsten Stewart x Chanel Advert beamed on repeat. It was cool.
They took our names down and lead us into a weird space pod thing which took us upstairs, you may be thinking- 'tide, that's an elevator.' and that's a sound assumption. But no, this was a space pod believe me. As soon as we got upstairs we were greeted by a lovely man. Tall well-groomed fella' with kind eyes. He introduced himself to the group as everyone got accustomed to their new clean crisp white surroundings and unfamiliar faces. I noticed the carefully crafted colour scheme- white and muted gold- was kept constant as to synchronise with the aesthetic of the bottle itself. I noticed the otherwise smooth white walls had fragments of exposed white distressed brick texturing, which had been layered with posters of K.Stew [the new face of the brand] which I really liked. I noticed the effort and time put into it, and it was n i c e.
Our day consisted of watching mini videos clips, learning interesting facts about the product, the brand and the woman behind it. Most of all, our noses had a hard days work. Not only our noses actually, but our senses were put in gear. It's not called a Sensorial Discovery Session for nada ehy! Lots of sniffing, testing out the bases that formulated the perfume and, of course, the perfume itself. Which I actually thought was exquisite. At one point, we had a 3D blindfold put on and got instructed to feel the shape and texture of bottle. I guess depriving one sense, heightens another. To be fair 'twas a smooth-ass bottle.
Then at the end we got some goodies! it's not called good-ies for nada...[oh i've already made that joke] [shh no-one will notice] [ok]. We got a massive Chanel tote, a Chanel poster, a sample of Gabrielle Chanel, a ribbon and a pin. Fab! Me, my sister and one of our new buds, joked that they better gift us a full bottle for all our hard sniffing!! They didn't. But as the famous saying goes:
beggars can't be choosers....unless they are sniffers. then they deserve the world.
All in all, I had a pretty stupidly great day.
I gained an insight into the world of designer darling. And learnt that although there is that aspect of status [which stinks], there is also the emphasis on quality, detail and passion for the production side of it all. Which is, if anything, respectable.
Now I think I'm on the hunt for more cool events, where I can meet nice people and have even nicer experiences! My eyes are peels!
*sips on socialist champagne*
Thanks for reading royalties,
Tea x x
2 comments
omg this is sooo cool! Love your style too!
ReplyDeletehttp://lifeofacameo.blogspot.co.uk/
Hi!! forgive me just saw this ! I seriously need to get back on the blogging train.
DeleteThank you so much !! I have to say your blog looks absolutely poppin' !
Tea x x