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Chanel cruises into Cuba

HAVANA — You survive six decades un-besmirched by Western brands, then within months, the Pope, United States President Barack Obama, Beyonce, Jay Z and The Rolling Stones turn up. Last night, a day after the first US cruise ship in 60 years docked in Havana Harbour, planet Chanel arrived in Cuba.

Models present creations by German designer Karl Lagerfeld as part of his latest inter-seasonal 
Cruise collection for fashion house Chanel at the Paseo del Prado street in Havana, Cuba. Photo: REUTERS

Models present creations by German designer Karl Lagerfeld as part of his latest inter-seasonal
Cruise collection for fashion house Chanel at the Paseo del Prado street in Havana, Cuba. Photo: REUTERS

HAVANA — You survive six decades un-besmirched by Western brands, then within months, the Pope, United States President Barack Obama, Beyonce, Jay Z and The Rolling Stones turn up. Last night, a day after the first US cruise ship in 60 years docked in Havana Harbour, planet Chanel arrived in Cuba.

Or rather, 600 of Chanel’s guests arrived. Members of Chanel’s crack squad have been stationed in the region for months — mainly in Panama, where communications are easier — arranging hotels, sampling restaurants and orchestrating the small matter of a full Chanel catwalk show. Not easy in a country where food and board are still, as one flustered Chanel PR puts it, “a bit Soviet”.

Shops are few and far between, and designer boutiques non-existent (the Dior store closed its doors in 1959). Officially, the regime frowns on logos.

“To live in Havana,” wrote Graham Green in 1958, “was to live in a factory that turned out human beauty on a conveyor belt.” Six decades on, although most of the city is so decayed that only will-power and defiance keep it standing, there is still a jaw-on-table degree of beauty — human, architectural and mechanical.

Nevertheless, the advent of a Chanel resort show in a country where the average annual salary of around £3,000 (S$5,906) is approximately the same as one of those (large sized) classic Chanel quilted handbags, has not been without controversy.

At least it has got everyone talking — about an advert Chanel shot in Cuba and its decision to hire Castro’s grandson, Tony Castro, a flamboyantly good-looking, luxuriously follicled model to walk in the show. Unfortunately for the conspiracy theorists, neither “fact”, was actually true.

What is true was that Stella Tennant was in the show, alongside a clutch of local Cuban models. Tilda Swinton, Vanessa Paradis and Gisele Bundchen were at the show — as was Vin Diesel, here shooting the latest The Fast And The Furious movie. Another capitalist emblem.

Also true: Chanel had stipulated that “ordinary” Cubans should be able to watch. This was an open-air show, staged along the length of the Paseo del Prado, a tree-fringed gem that incorporates a 170m-long tiled promenade, which effectively became the world’s longest catwalk.

Graham Greene couldn’t have dreamed up anything more surreal: The Chanel-clad guests alighted from 170 of Havana’s most lovingly tended vintage open-top cars while Cuban musicians tuned up and the chauffeurs demonstrated the baroque tunefulness of their horns.

By the time Vin Diesel pitched up, the cacophony was deafening, with more and more locals emerging to wave from balconies and rooftops. Then the heavens opened. Had no one clocked that this is the start of the rainy season? Chauffeurs appeared with voluminous black umbrellas — too late for many of the front row hair-dos, which had turned to frizz. The Cubans remained in position unfazed. The rain stopped. The catwalk dried. The show began.

The clothes were lovely — nothing too thematic, unless you count the models’ Panama hats, a handful of khaki jackets and several sequinned Che Guevara berets, although the latter could have been French berets. Crocheted white maxi dresses, backless metallic brogues, quilted 2.5 bags in slabs of ice-cream shades, feathered and chiffon midi dresses, some worn over white shirts and translucent white voile skirts: If there was a thread, it was colour and a sense of joyful improvisation that must surely have been inspired by the way many Cubans instinctively dress, albeit on infinitely smaller budgets.

Here, an outfit comprising of red and white striped, high-waisted, flared trousers, a silk blouse in pale-moss and a khaki tweed jacket. There, a fringed turquoise tweed skirt with a pink tweed jacket.

It’s easy to understand the scepticism — much of it from outside Cuba. Chanel, however, sees this as a gesture of support for the country. Financially, as Chanel’s president of fashion Bruno Pavlovsky said: “Chanel has nothing to gain from showing here right now.” Unlike previous venues (in the past two years Chanel has shown in Seoul, Dubai, Dallas), Havana won’t be a lucrative market for the company any time soon. But in a 100 years’ time, Chanel will still be the first luxury brand to have shown here. That’s worth more than any money; it’s historic. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

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