Chanel: Mademoiselle Privé

So, I am finally getting around to writing a report on the Chanel: Mademoiselle Privé exhibition that me and my best friend went to on October 26th 2015 at the Saatchi Gallery in London. It was absolutely amazing and I am so glad I attended and feel so lucky I got to go as it was only there from a limited amount of time, from October 13th - November 1st 2015. 

So when we arrived we saw a massive queue from the entrance of the gallery ending outside of the gallery grounds and more people adding to the queue every second, which was expected, so we shifted in line as quickly as possible. 

The considerably large queue surprisingly went down quicker than we expected so within thirty minutes we passed through the beautiful gardens (which I believe were created by British landscape designers Harry and David Rich) and was entering the gallery.

This also was my first fashion exhibition experience, so I really didn't know what to expect and also it was a last minute decision to go so I didn't really feel like my outfit was up to the standards of being in a Chanel exhibition, but I am so glad it didn't stop me. When we arrived in the first room it was an all white room with black markings on the wall which made the room stand out, there were markings of clothes, writing and lines on the walls to outline information of importance and to create details of the gallery resembling the building of Gabrielle Chanel's workshop. There was also an app that visitors could download on their mobile phones that interacted with some of the gallery, and would show you videos and other cool information that you couldn't see without the app. 

Immediately after this room we walked through a pitch black room with blue lights which formed patterns all around the corridor, it was really pretty and I knew it would look good on my Instagram. The patterns looked like jewels, which after the exhibition made me realise it was foreshadowing what was to come next. 

In the next room there was an enormous star covered diamond necklace which was created by Coco Chanel in 1932, that was rotating in a circle for visitors to see, it was placed in the middle of a white, dimmed room with lights shine upon it for the diamonds to reflect light around the room. The ornament was inside a large silver birdcage and visitors were prohibited not to go past a certain point. For me this was one of my favourite parts of the exhibition, I really wasn't expecting it. 

After this we were left to tour the rest of the exhibition ourselves and go to the sections we wanted to, we decided to go upstairs and view Gabrielle Chanel's French garden which I found quite different as it was inside of a gallery and it looked so much like a real garden. It told us a story of how it was where Coco Chanel thought of some of her first fashion ideas. 

It is worth mentioning that as we maneuvered ourselves up the stairs there was an alignment of clothing which I thought must have meant something but there was nothing explaining what it was, but I thought it was different and intriguing. The alignment resembles a type of flower to me, which may resemble Coco's designer perfumes that she created and may have foreshadowed the perfume factory.

There was a room that resembled a perfume factory which had opening compartments in the floor that had scents from Chanel perfumes in each one. I didn't get any photos of these and now I wish I did, but I did get a photo of one of the facts on the wall in this section. 

After that we proceeded into a dark room which had a number of stands which had four outfits on from Chanel Couture which had poles of light to show the embroidery and detail included in the clothing. 

We then went through to the following room which held mannequins which were dressed in Chanel couture. Jewellery from the original Bijoux de Diamants High Jewellery collection were recreated and placed on the mannequins that were dressed in the clothes worn by models in Chanel's most recent show at the time (Chanel Spring/Summer 2016). Around this room was photographs of stars modelling the jewellery who were photographed by Karl Lagerfeld, they included Rita Ora, Kristen Stewart, Kiera Knightley and numerous more. 

Next we were directed to a room which was like a small cinema, and were screened a short film about Coco Chanel living on after death through Karl Lagerfeld, it was really engaging and it was one of the things I enjoyed most. 

Lastly we was directed through to the shop which sold merchandise of the exhibition and through there was the exit. Upon our exit we was given a tote bag which featured the logo of Chanel: Mademoiselle Privé exhibition which held a big poster with the logo on that also. I have to say it is my favourite exhibition so far. I am hoping to go to the Chanel Culture exhibition in Venice this year I hope it lives up to Mademoiselle Privé.

All photos taken by me.