Haute couture goes for an MTV-style makeover

Chanel and Valentino enrol artists from music and film as couture adapts to Covid by turning digital

The ultimate luxury for 2021? A joyful family party. That is what we want more than anything else this season, according to Chanel's Virginie Viard.

Since luxury fashion is ultimately about what is aspirational - and with blockbuster catwalk shows being off the cards for the foreseeable - Viard put up a marquee, strung fairy lights between rose arbours, scattered petals on the floor, and staged her spring haute couture collection as a family reunion.

I knew we couldn't organise a big show ... so I came up with the idea of a small cortege that would come down the stairs of the Grand Palais and pass between arches of flowers. Like a family celebration, or a wedding," said Viard before the show.