The Art Of The Atellier

We All Live in a Dizzyingly Digitised World Now, So It’s No Wonder That Tangibility Has Become So Prized. In Our Constant Virtual Whirl, Meticulous Artisanal Finesse Brings Both Beauty and Ballast. Even as the Pace of Modern Life Builds to a Frenzy, the Practitioners of Luxury Craftsmanship Cleave to Their Own Time-honoured Rhythms. The Most Steadfast Purveyors of Style Also Know That Ubiquity May Win Popularity Contests, but It’s Rarity That Keeps the Discerning Connoisseur Faithful. Slip Behind the Scenes With Singapore Tatler, as We Take an Exclusive Look at How the World’s Ateliers Create True Luxury.

- Hong Xinyi

The instagram it girls were out in full force at the Chanel haute couture spring/summer 2017 show in Paris’ Grand Palais. Lily-Rose Depp (2.5 million followers), the teen daughter of Hollywood star Johnny Depp and French model Vanessa Paradis, was the blushing Chanel bride clad in exuberant ruffles; Bella Hadid (10.6 million followers), younger sister of Gigi and recently spurned ex of pop’s bad boy The Weeknd, smouldered in a sleek black gown; and Kendall Jenner (74.2 million followers) of the Kardashian clan strutted her stuff in a silver number.

Social media cachet is by no means a frivolous asset in the world of high fashion. Many industry players now view a model’s Instagram following as a number that’s more important than her weight—any figure less than 10,000 may well constrain one’s chances of getting cast in a runway show or advertising campaign. Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld, always alert to the necessity of staying relevant, has expertly wedded the contemporary glamour of these Internet darlings to the label’s renowned craftsmanship.

Even as the models on its runway have become virtuosos of the virtual world, the impeccable mastery of metiers d’art remains at the heart of Chanel’s creations. Consider this dress, for instance, and ponder these numbers—the organza for the bustier is embroidered with 3,000 beads, stones, rhinestones and tulle ribbons in cream, pink and silver tones, and the completion of this embroidery required 193 hours of work in the Montex ateliers. Founded in 1939, Montex is famed for its skills in embroidery, lacework and beading.