Chanel Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2015: In Full Bloom

Karl Lagerfeld installed a custom-built hot house against which to show his magnificent Chanel Haute Couture collection in Paris this morning. As the lights went up, paper leaves opened to reveal blooms brighter even than nature intended.

And flowers were the story with the clothes also: collars and hems came encrusted with silk anenomes in intense shades; the lightest bell-shaped, ankle-length skirts were covered with blossom entirely.

The Chanel suit - in this case in embroidered tweed - was remarkably fresh and youthful: a cropped cardigan jacket and low-slung, slender, mid-calf length skirt looked as easy to wear as it must surely have been challenging to realise. Chiffon shirtwaister dresses that fluttered as models walked were pleated in ever more elaborate a manner but, again, there was nothing over-wrought about their finished appearance.

In 2002 Chanel began to acquire Paris's most revered ateliers in a bid to ensure the survival of haute couture techniques that are unrivalled the world over. With the backing of this, French fashion's most famous name, their businesses are growing. The move was not entirely altruistic. Chanel - and Chanel haute couture in particular - takes precedence and that shows.

The embroidery, feather and flower work here was astonishing both for its delicacy and depth. We all know that there are only a few thousand women in the world privileged enough to own Chanel haute couture. These lucky clients rest safe in the knowledge that they are the most beautifully dressed of their kind in the world.

At the end of the show the bride appeared. Her train took the breath of even this most rarefied audience away. She was accompanied by boys dressed in nothing more haute than cotton bermudas, loose-fitting jackets and espadrilles, all the colour of sand.