Tatler UK - 09.2019

THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A

seductive glamour to black and

white movies. Those were the silver

screen’s glory days – the era of dark

eyes and alabaster skin; of Marlene

Dietrich with her top hat and care-

fully painted mouth; of Katharine

Hepburn and her bold, masculine

eyebrows; of Ingrid Bergman with

her powdered Casablanca beauty.

Film was also a medium that

inspired Gabrielle Chanel, who was

beckoned to Hollywood in 1931 by

Sam Goldwyn and dressed Gloria

Swanson in Tonight or Never, and

then Joan Blondell in The Greeks

Had a Word for Them, later remade

as How to Marry a Millionaire. And

Coco didn’t restrict herself to film:

in 1956, she created the costumes for

Jeanne Moreau for the Paris run of

Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin

Roof. The play was a resounding suc-

cess, and Chanel triumphed. As she

• or rather, the house that bears her

Left, Jeanne

Moreau & Coco

Chanel at Rue

Cambon, 1960.

Above, Chanel

with Romy

Schneider, 1960.

Below, A/W 19

formula, but contains carbon extract

for an intensity that recalls the heavy-

lashed look of Bette Davis. These

innovations mean this make-up is

perfect for now. Take the Ombre

Première Top Coat: two sheer pow-

ders designed to intensify eyeshadow.

Then there’s Carte Blanche, a pow-

der that provides a platinum gleam;

and Pénombre, which leaves a dusky

veil of colour. But the star of the

collection is Le Gel Pailléte: a clear

body gel shot through with shim-

mering silver flecks. It’s thicker than

you might expect, but it dries to a

gleaming finish. Applied with the

fingers and buffed with a brush, it

brings luminosity to the décolleté –

calling to mind a bare-shouldered

Joan Crawford. ‘It becomes part of

your skin,’ says Pica. ‘At the same

time, the sparkle hovers above it like

an aura, bringing a filmic glamour.’

And it’s exactly that filmic glam-

our that renders the collection as

timeless as the black and white films

that inspired it. ‘The woman I

imagine wearing this line is strong

and she owns it,’ says Pica. ‘Which,

actually, is very Chanel.’

BE AUTY

TREND

tatler.com September 2019

PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY OF CHANEL; GETTY IMAGES

1. Rouge Allure Liquid Powder, £31. 2. Rouge Coco Gloss, £28. 3. Rouge Allure Velvet Extrême
   lipstick, £31. 4. Ombre Première Top Coat eyeshadow, £28. 5. Les 4 Ombres eyeshadow palette,
   £44. 6. Le Volume Ultra-Noir mascara, £28. 7. Stylo Yeux Waterproof eyeliner, £22, all by CHANEL

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name – will doubtless do again this

month, when the brand makes its

cinematic comeback.

The Le Noir et Blanc de Chanel

collection has been created by Lucia

Pica, its Global Creative Director for

Make-up and Colour. The line-up

stars powders, glosses and stains

that riff on the two ‘non-colours’ that

Chanel celebrated in jersey dresses,

costume-jewellery pearls and two-

tone pumps. Coco’s inspiration was

myriad: from the nuns’ habits at the

orphanage where she lived as a child

to the clean lines  of art moderne.

‘Black has it all,’ she said. ‘White

too. Their beauty is absolute. It is

the perfect harmony.’

Pica pushes this palette further. ‘I

wanted to explore other colours

within black and white, the under-

shades and the in-betweens,’ she says.

‘The collection is as much about

these gradations as it is the absolutes.’

Which is why, as well as black and

white, the collection is brimming

with cinematic tones of sepia.

A Rouge Coco Gloss in Laque

Noire looks near-black at first, but

leaves a cherry-like stain on lips; while

an eyeshadow quad in Noir Suprême

introduces shades of pewter, copper,

Chanel’s new look

harks back to the

golden age of cinema,

says Francesca White

Coco goes

to Hollywood

burgundy and brown. Chanel’s ‘abso-

lutes’ are found in the nail polishes,

white eyeliner (with a precision nib

for highlighting the inner corner of

the eyes) and mascara. The latter

employs the cult Volume de Chanel

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