7, they found themselves blinking in the frigid December fog at Place Skanderberg, just outside the Périphérique ring road, waiting for the brand’s annual Métiers d’Art show to begin.
Delivered by a fleet of Mercedeses, dressed to the nines in bouclé and draped in pearls, many were wearing necklaces from which dangled a small pair of gold scissors.
The reason: Le19M, the site of the show and the new home of the 11 specialist couture workshops that Chanel began acquiring in 1985.
First, however, there was a tour of the workshops, led in part by Blanca Li, the Spanish choreographer.
At 2 degrees Celsius, it was too cold for Champagne.
A low-key one at that.
A jacket partly obscured by a giant fluffy cardigan looked to be made out of metallic glass shards, until you took a closer look and realized it was embroidered with graphic sprays of sequins.
Cardigans were the star of the show, rendered slouchy and paired with densely worked, sequin-encrusted minidresses and tweed skirt suits.
The looks lightened up toward the end, in the form of a sheer black tulle skirt dotted with feathers and pearls and paired with a slim black cardigan, and a languid dress with a black-and-white bouclé top souped up with just a touch of crystals at the waist and cuffs.
A dinner was planned for the evening at the Montparnasse brasserie La Coupole, once a favorite of Man Ray and Josephine Baker, but there would be no after-party.