The story between CHANEL and dance has been written for more than a hundred years thanks to shared values such as the freedom of movement, and the generational passing down of a passion for creativity. Behind the inspirations, the delicacy, and the grace of both CHANEL and dance creations, emerges a choreography of gestures, repeated and ever reinvented.
The idea of movement shaped the way Gabrielle Chanel imagined clothes, directly on the body of her models, and continues to be at the heart of creation at CHANEL. “Clothes must be as alive, as mobile as the woman who wears it.” For her, dance was the ultimate expression of what already defined the allure of CHANEL: elegance and freedom of movement.
Close to avant-garde artists, Gabrielle Chanel first became friends with the founder of the Ballets Russes, Sergei Diaghilev, in the 1920s, and then later became his patron. It was in 1924 that she first applied her audacity and vision to the world of dance when she created the costumes for the ballet Le Train bleu. In her commitment to explore and develop a liberated allure, the couturière herself had practiced this discipline.
True to Gabrielle Chanel’s commitment to artists, CHANEL continues to renew its links with the art of dance. Since 2023, the House has been a Major Patron of the Paris Opera, Patron of the Opening Gala of the dance season since 2018, and for fostering the artistic projects of the Opera for which CHANEL creates unique costumes every year, among other initiatives. The House is also committed to supporting the Paris Opera in the long term. Since 2025, CHANEL has been actively supporting the institution’s transformation and has become Exceptional Patron of the Paris Opera’s Renovation.
The House also supports leading artists and choreographers such as Germaine Acogny and her École des Sables, Julian Nicosia, Hofesh Shechter, Blanca Li, and Benjamin Millepied and Solenne du Haÿs Mascré, for whom dance is not only a territory of exploration and innovation, but also a tool for fostering dialogue between cultures and generations. From the Paris Opera Junior Ballet to the École des Sables in Dakar and the Orsolina28 Foundation in Moncalvo, the partnerships cultivated by CHANEL aim to promote this artistic discipline and encourage vocations around the world.
Be it contemporary or classical creation, with recognised or emerging talents, dance, the language of the body in movement, continues to inspire the fashion of CHANEL today.