Chanel goes to Hollywood: hotpants and catsuits hit tinsel town

Show was more ditzy, tongue-in-cheek Hollywood of Clueless and Barbie than rarefied silver-screen world of Philadelphia Story

“Fashion doesn’t always have to be serious,” shrugged Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel’s president of fashion, as a troupe of high-ponytailed roller skaters in glitter lame catsuits weaved a conga line across a California basketball court and Patrice Rushen’s 1982 dancefloor classic Forget Me Nots boomed from the speakers.

Chanel catwalk shows don’t normally close with Snoop Dogg on stage asking the crowd: “Do we got any weed smokers in the house?” But the home of the neat tweed suit and the little black dress is in unusually high spirits of late. A week after a 6ft furry tribute to Karl Lagerfeld’s beloved pet cat stole the show at the fancy dress extravaganza of the Met Gala, where Chanel was the main sponsor, the current designer Virginie Viard went toe to toe with her flamboyant predecessor with a night of kitsch Americana to launch her latest cruise collection in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening.

Fashion usually looks to Hollywood for untouchable glamour, but here Hollywood stood for entertainment. This was the ditzy, tongue-in-cheek, pastel-toned screwball Hollywood of Clueless, Almost Famous, I, Tonya and the forthcoming Barbie movie rather than the rarefied silver screen world of High Society and The Philadelphia Story.