Inside the CHANEL show with Fashion Director Amber Baker

Chanel's first official Australian runway show brought Matthieu Blazy's mermaid fantasy to Sydney, and Remix Fashion Director Amber Baker had a front-row seat.

Ok, the seat may have been in the second row, but I was sitting directly opposite Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman so you'll find no complaints here.

But first, let's start with the invitation, because it really set the tone. Hand delivered by a man in a crisp Chanel-black suit, a monogrammed box contained a silver necklace with a tiny clamshell pendant, the show name engraved inside.

Chanel knows how to make an entrance… and this was a big one. It was the house's first official runway show on Australian soil, with a team of around 300 flown in for two showings of Blazy's debut Cruise collection, first unveiled in Biarritz back in April. Biarritz is where Gabrielle Chanel opened her couture house in 1915, and that set opened straight onto the ocean, so Sydney had a lot to live up to.

Guys, it delivered.

The show was staged at The Cutaway, the cavernous space beneath Barangaroo Reserve on Gadigal Country. Instead of sea views, we got glimpses of the site's raw sandstone, wrapped in five connected rooms of house black and beige, but really it was like a chic Parisian house of mirrors. Just doing the maths on building a structure within a structure left me speechless (rare, I know). Some rooms even nodded to Coco's apartment at 31 Rue Cambon. A Paris salon tucked into Sydney rock? Blazy, you clever, clever man.

He took Chanel to the seaside and brought back a fairytale. Shell earrings sat snug against the ear. Swim caps grew fins (a wink to the costumes Gabrielle designed for the 1924 ballet Le Train Bleu, but also a detail my toddler announced was straight out of Luca, the Disney Pixar film about friendly sea monsters).

Tweed jackets were trimmed with embroidered starfish, and skirts came covered in netting, which is about as close as Chanel will ever get to a fisherman's catch.

The house codes were all there, the little black dress, the sailor stripe, the double C, but nothing felt precious. Retro maillots came with thigh-high rubber waders that I dreamt of debuting on a wet morning at kindy drop off… While the raffia beach tote has been ludicrously, capaciously supersized (yes, we're still there) for 'just the essentials'.

Blazy has made this for the woman who never stopped playing mermaids (aka, me). It's couture with salt water in its hair. Chanel hasn't felt this light in years.

There's even a shell-shaped clutch with its own coral stand, so it can live on your shelf like a sculpture when it's not on your arm: collectors, take note (of which, might I add, there were plenty present; VICs, as they're called, very important customers). In fact, media, celebrities and influencers sitting in the front row were dwarfed by the swarms of passionate Chanel collectors who had been flown in from all over by the Maison. The guest list was rumoured to be curated by Blazy himself… I have no proof, but I'll claim it.

And then came the finale. Head-to-toe beading in coral, gold and sea-glass green, every piece laid like a scale and flaring mermaid-style at the hem. It's whimsy, yes, but whimsy only works when the craft underneath is this serious. This certainly was.

And we must discuss the shoes. The internet has had plenty to say about the 'barefoot' heel caps: a heel, an ankle tie and absolutely nothing underneath – half-shoes, I call them. They made me grin, and honestly… I'd wear them. Duh, they're Chanel. 

Besides the big-time Chanel collectors (who were dripping in double Cs), the front row was a who's who. Margot Robbie, Nicole Kidman and Baz Luhrmann made it a true Aussie screen-royalty moment, while Jack Robinson and the Inspired Unemployed boys looked like they'd wandered in from the surf… which was honestly the most on-theme thing in the room. Love that for them.

Also worth noting was Gemma Ward's return to the runway for the first time in years, and, to my excitement, she shared a catwalk with our very own Kiwi, Lucy Rosiek, (below).

And the after-party? Kylie Minogue. Of course it was Kylie. She graced us with three nostalgic songs, and plenty of neck strain from everyone craning to watch her dance in the VIP section.

Blazy himself wasn't in Sydney, but you could feel him in every look. In recent years Chanel Cruise has played Marseille, Los Angeles, Monte Carlo and Athens. Now it's played Sydney too. Next stop, Deauville… but Aotearoa, we're right here.

By AMBER BAKER

IMAGE CREDIT: Copyright CHANEL