I’ve been a CHANEL fan as far back as I can remember.  And I know what you’re thinking…  “What red-blooded American man isn’t?”  But, for me, it runs deeper.  I’m not sure how, but I’m pretty sure my mother and grandmother ingrained the storied House’s iconic DNA into my psyche, in-utero.  Tyrolean jackets?  Check.  Quilted leather?  Check.  Pearls, pearls and more pearls?  Check, check and check (although given my druthers, I’d take a strand of Tahitians over plastic pop-beads emblazoned with interlocking Cs, every day and twice on Sundays). 

To wit, my mother tells a story of how once, in the very early ‘80s, I began hysterically sobbing, when I noticed a woman, walking through the lobby of Caesars Palace, wearing a CHANEL evening suit well before 5pm.  Granted, I was a bit of an odd duck (I didn’t aspire to being a fireman or astronaut…  Nah – I wanted to be a “walker” for Slim Keith, Sao Schlumberger, Nan Kempner, and Aline, Countess of Romanones); but still.  To my precocious little 8 year-old brain, this was the fashion equivalent of the Hindenburg.  Oh, the humanity, indeed!

So, it was with great excitement (and a bit of nervous trepidation) that I awaited the arrival of CHANEL’s Numéros Privés installation, at Wynn Las Vegas.  Was it all hype?  I mean – it’s CHANEL, after all.  So, I knew it was gonna be good.  But great?  In a word – yes.  But it was so much more.

Upon entering the room formerly occupied by Alex Restaurant, a handsome host pulled aside the floor-length ropes of beads (a shout-out to those pearls with which Gabrielle Chanel was so taken), and ushered me inside the exhibit.  Once left to my own devices, I alighted the grand stairs and (having already received the skinny on the layout from friends) made a beeline to the arcade game in the Icon room with the mechanical claw reaching for bags filled with little CHANEL prizes (no jewels – real or faux – but more than $100 worth of CHANEL cosmetics!).

From here, I entered the Blade Runner-esque J12 room, with its digital walls, and sands-of-time columns; followed by the 2.55 room.  Known to the world as the CHANEL Classic, in-house the trailblazing shoulder bag is known as the 2.55.  Full disclosure – I always assumed these numbers in some way had to do with size.  In actuality, it’s a denotation of time – specifically February 1955, when Mme. Chanel created the iconic accessory.

The Haute Couture room recreated Madame’s famous apartment above the Maison at 31 Rue Cambon – down to the infinity effect brought about by the tall mirrors, and the Coromandel screens (not to mention some fabulous examples of high fashion).  The Pop Art room featured CHANEL-related works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, as well as a Chanel No. 5 totem with a large glass bottle turned into a movie screen, playing a loop of Baz Luhrmann’s 2006 Chanel No. 5 commercial, starring Nicole Kidman.

The Haute Joaillerie was enclosed in cases in a lush, verdant garden room, reminiscent of Jean Cocteau’s 1946 cinematic magnum opus, La Belle et La Bête.  Camellia trees (“blooming” with CHANEL's signature camellia brooches) were interspersed with disco balls, among the cases of sparkling jewels.

The room I enjoyed most of all, though, was undeniably the Children’s Room.  An enormous dollhouse recreated the Maison’s facade, while a mobile of CHANEL-clad ragdolls hung from the ceiling, and life-sized mannequins wearing CHANEL prêt-à-porter were perched on cushions and oversized chairs.  But, hands-down, my absolute favorite thing of the whole show was the assemblage of Karl Lagerfeld-designed CHANEL Be@rbricks.  Looking like the lovechild of Edith Head and Kim Jong Il, as imagined by KidRobot, these knee-high dolls cracked me up.  Granted, the way they were positioned – with their left arms raised uniformly in salute, as though they were about to come alive and go goose-stepping down the Strasse – hit a little close for comfort (when taking into account Madame’s not-so-secret anti-Semitic leanings).

All told, in a world where people overuse the word “chic” and improperly use the word “couture” (to the extent that they have lost all sense of propriety and context), it is fantastic to see the brand that epitomizes the former and embodies the latter honor its customers (and itself) with this sort of (let’s face it) self-aggrandizement.  Why?  Because they’re CHANEL, and they can. 

CHANEL
Numéros Privés
Wynn Las Vegas

Get into it!