Dezeen Magazine

Robots walk the runway at Chanel's Spring Summer 2017 show

A "data centre" provided the backdrop for Chanel's spring summer 2017 show, which included models dressed as robots and bags with flashing LED displays.

The Chanel show took place at the Grand Palais in Paris yesterday. Creative director Karl Lagerfeld, who is known for creating elaborate sets, transformed the historic site into the Chanel Data Centre.

"The data centre is something of our time," said Lagerfeld in a video interview. "It's the idea of the modern woman, whatever the time, the century or the circumstances."

A photo posted by Antonio Choy Kay (@achoykay) on

"It's not technology in a cold way, it's intimate technology," he added. "Even if you don't like the idea, technology rules the world because it changed the world and it made many things easier."

The catwalk was set in front of giant control panels complete with multicoloured wires. Models, including two dressed similarly to stormtroopers, emerged from the machines into a stark white room.

The colours seen in the wiring were repeated in the collection, where they were applied to digital prints and the signature Chanel tweed.

Accessories included brightly coloured baseball caps, robot-shaped bags and monochrome clutches with LED displays.

"The robot – that is my idea of putting the most iconic jacket of the show on a creature of an unknown future that means Chanel is timeless," said Lagerfeld.

Chanel's penchant for elaborate design isn't unique to its catwalk sets. For a store in Amsterdam, the brand enlisted Dutch firm MVRDV to replace a traditional facade with glass bricks that are "stronger than concrete".