All Aboard The Chanel Cruise Ship

Chanel certainly doesn’t hold back when it comes to sheer catwalk spectacle. This is, after all, the brand that season transforms Paris’s Grand Palais into magical new worlds season after season, whether that means an ice-cold snowscape sculpted from 265 tonnes of Scandinavian ice, a post-apocalyptic theatre or simply the most high-fashion supermarket of all time, and Karl Lagerfeld’s boundless creativity shows no sign of waning, if the set for the storied French fashion house’s 2018-19 Cruise show is anything to go by. What could be a more simple yet striking backdrop than a 148 metre-long Chanel cruise ship, the La Pausa, docked in the Grand Palais?

Modelled by the likes of Gigi and Bella Hadid and Stella Maxwell, the new collection was relaxed, typically nautical and quintessentially French: think re-worked Breton stripes (be that in wide-leg trousers or a transparent, plasticised sundress), classic Chanel tweeds in white, navy and a handful of millennial-baiting pale pinks, and the embellished berets worn by each member of Lagerfeld's fleet of models.

Chanel being Chanel, the front row line-up caught our attention, too (before they crossed the gangway and headed into the La Pausa for the after-show party, that is). Having been announced as the brand's latest ambassador just before the Academy Awards in March (and wearing a bespoke Chanel gown to the ceremony that was 600 hours in the making...) Margot Robbie made her front row debut for the label, wearing an embellished mini dress with a bow tied at the neck. She was joined by a handful of familiar Chanel faces, including recent campaign stars Kristen Stewart, who brought the tuxedo-jacket-as-dress trend to the Grand Palais (in black Chanel tweed, naturally) and Lily-Rose Depp, wearing a bejewelled tube dress.

See who sat front row for Chanel's latest Cruise extravaganza in the gallery below...