On December 8^th, 2021, the day after the 2021/22 Métiers d'art show, around 200 students attended a masterclass given by Bruno Pavlovsky, President of CHANEL's Fashion Activities, with the participation of Caroline de Maigret and Pharrell Williams, ambassadors of the House, and Dimitri Chamblas, who choreographed the film presented before the show. Moderated by Tyler Brûlé, Chairman and Editorial Director of Monocle magazine, the discussion was held at le19M, the new Parisian building imagined by CHANEL and dedicated to the savoir-faire of the Fashion Métiers d'art.

The one presented on Tuesday December 7^th 2021 will be more so than ever, as Virginie Viard, Artistic Director of the Fashion collections, has chosen le19M, the luminous new building and beating heart of the Métiers d’art, as the venue for the show.

The Métiers d’art bring together several hundred embroiderers, feather workers, paruriers, goldsmiths, pleaters, shoemakers, hatters, milliners, glove makers, tanners, leatherworkers, as well as silk and cashmere experts based in France, Italy, Spain and Scotland. Through a creative dialogue with Virginie Viard, the set of savoir-faire perpetuated and constantly reinvented by these artisans contributes to rendering each creation an exceptional piece.

This fruitful conversation between the House of CHANEL and the Métiers d’art was initiated by Gabrielle Chanel herself, who called upon the skills of Paris’ best artisans. As early as 1985, CHANEL began the process of acquiring these métiers, as a means to ensure their durability, to allow for creative research and to support their development. Today, the Métiers d’art bring together some forty Maisons d’art and factories, representing more than six thousand, six hundred employees of all generations and backgrounds who work with CHANEL and other great names in fashion in France and around the world.

The preservation of this heritage goes hand in hand with the need to focus on the future, to inspire new vocations and to experiment with new techniques. For this to happen it became necessary to embody this patrimony with an actual place, le19M. This year, eleven Maisons d’art have been brought together at this new building dedicated to the Métiers d’art and designed by CHANEL, located between the municipality of Aubervilliers and the 19^th arrondissement of Paris: the embroiderers Lesage — along with Lesage Intérieurs and its School of Art Embroidery — and Montex — with its MTX decoration department —, the shoemaker Massaro, the feather and flower maker Lemarié, the milliner and hatter Maison Michel, the pleater Lognon, the flou specialist Paloma and the goldsmith Goossens.

For the 2021/22 Métiers d’art show presented at le19M, CHANEL called upon the REMEMBERS Studio to make eight animated films. Eight models close to the House are portrayed in imaginary worlds inspired by eight Métiers d’art. le19M is the backdrop to these films, which have a lively graphic rhythm and are inspired as much by manga as by avant-garde animation.
A tribute to CHANEL’s creative dialogue with the Métiers d’art, these short films echo the virtuosity of the great artisans they celebrate. They combine the symbols of the House, historic fashion savoir-faire and the unique architecture of le19M, this place where dreams are made.