Mad for it! Chanel goes full-on Manc

THERE was no Gail Platt, but last night Chanel brought Manchester's Northern Quarter to a glamorous standstill - in spite of the incessant rain - as it presented its Métier d'Arts collection in the city. It was a feat of levelling up that the Government can but dream of.

- Victoria Moss

Having paid off the stores (one, a reported £47,000) along Thomas Street to shut (including a tattoo parlour, stationers and bar offering loaded fries) guests perched on pub picnic tables and bar stools to watch the show. Kristen Stewart, Jenna Coleman, Sofia Coppola, Alexa Chung, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, reluctant oompa loompa Hugh Grant and Tilda Swinton attended alongside Gene and Lennon Gallagher (wrong generation, right family but even Chanel couldn't bring Liam and Noel back together), Jeanette Winterson and the poet John Cooper Clarke.

The day before Clark had regaled Chanel's guests, while they snacked on Scampi fries, in the basement of the O! Peste Destroyed a bookshop/cafe in Ancoats. His verses-on Farah trousers and what to avoid when wearing suede shoes were perhaps not the usual Chanel fare. But the house founded by Coco Chanel in 1910 took its guests (VIPs travelled in a private carriage on the Avanti mainline service) right into the heart of Manchester's cultural legacy. A Peter Saville designed magazine along with a record featuring Electronic and New Order were left in attendees rooms along with a box of PG Tips and Chanel MCR branded mug and scarf.