A Reimagined Chanel

After a Texas-centric past year for Chanel — with Karl Lagerfeld’s appearance with his 2013/2014 Cruise Collection themed Paris/Dallas, culminating in an international runway show at Fair Park in Dallas — Karl visits another oil-rich, Wild West locale: Dubai. To showcase this kissing-cousin-to-Texas collection, Chanel throws open its new Galleria portals Wednesday, December 10, after a massive six-month, multi-million-dollar makeover — its first since the boutique opened in 1998. NY architect Peter Marino revised the sleek new interiors, plucking ideas from the gilded screens and rock-crystal objects of Coco Chanel’s opulent Paris apartment, commingled with contemporary works by artists Marc Swanson, Peter Dayton and Patrick Hill, all set against Chanel’s iconic black-and-white palette.

In the reimagined 5,000-square-foot space, shoes, bags, jewelry and ready-to-wear fill rooms that flow like a residence, culminating in oversized and extraordinarily plush fitting areas. Barbara Cirkva, Division President, CHANEL Inc., says, “This evolution is what keeps the designs fresh and exciting, just as Karl [Lagerfeld] reinvents the codes of Chanel each collection.”

Take the exotic and daring 2014/2015 Cruise Dubai — a floaty, feminine, East-meets-West collection of tweed and colorful keffiyeh scarves, beaded tunics, pointed satin slippers and strappy “glass” sandals — a romantic modern Orient, Lagerfeld tells style.com,“a new One Thousand and One Nights,” with the past (decaying tweeds and patchwork) ingeniously juxtaposed with three dimensional geometrics. It’s a perfect pitch high note for the reopening of this stunning new Chanel salon. Chanel, Galleria Houston.