The CHANEL Cruise 2024/25 show was a salute to the sun, architecture, music and dance. For Virginie Viard’s latest collection, we were transported to the French shores of Marseille—a veritable melting pot of influences. 

Befitting this backdrop, there was an undertone of relaxed street appeal contrasted by romantic elegance for Cruise 24/25. Overalls in deep indigo denim met crochet twinsets, while colourful tweeds were layered over the top of hooded sweatshirts. The swimwear was adorned with black bows and, for the feet: terry towelling flip-flops with platform soles.

Marseille is a city renowned for its fine textiles and luxurious hand-quilted fabrics, dating back to the eighteenth century. So it felt fitting that this craftsmanship also wove its way throughout the collection, by way of romantic details in waffle fabrics, ivory ladder lace, and patchworks of broderie anglaise.

The geometric details of the show location reverberated throughout the clothing as well. Technicolour tweeds and graphic lines, in particular, reflected the architectural design and multicoloured magic of Marseille’s Cité radieuse—the iconic ‘radiant city’ residential concept space built by Le Corbusier in the mid-1900s. 

‘Marseille is a city that puts me in touch with my emotions,’ Virginie Viard explains. ‘I tried to capture its power of attraction, its breath of fresh air, and to convey the energy that reigns there. And you couldn't ask for a better backdrop to a runway show than the Cité radieuse.’