By Jenny Barchfield, Associated Press
With global warming, the icebergs are melting, the seas are rising and global catastrophe looms. But for Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld, that's no excuse not to look one's best.
Amid a monumental set of massive bergs -- made out of hunks of real ice -- Lagerfeld sent out models in fur-covered tweed skirt suits splashing in shaggy cavewomen boots through puddles of Arctic melt at Tuesday's fall-winter 2010-2011 ready-to-wear show.
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Four models in head-to-toe coffee-colored yeti suits huddling among icebergs, like refugees of the global warming-induced apocalypse, opened the display. After milling about in a daze, they dispersed, and Lagerfeld's parade of climate change chic commenced.
Fur panels dressed up the hemlines of the classic Chanel skirtsuits and the label's blockbuster chain-strapped handbags, and fur trousers were paired with little tweed jackets. Most but not all of the fur was fake.
Fancy knit sweaters glinted with beadwork, like icicles. Angora sweaterdresses shone icily in an Arctic palette of white and powder blue.
The models kicked up a spray of droplets as they tromped the watery catwalk, and the hemlines of their ankle-length rockstar coats -- worn with cocktail dresses with delicately beaded bodices -- were soaked.
It was a strong display that highlighted not only Lagerfeld's ability to reinvent Chanel's trademark looks season after season, but also fashion's capacity to appropriate the hot-button issues facing humanity and turn them into fodder for trends -- even using the issues that scare us most.
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