Chanel’s cruise collection sails into Dubai

What world does the word ‘cruise’ conjure in your mind’s eye? Big yachts, magnificent beaches and a decadent lifestyle; luxury and chic being their proverbial red thread running through every aspect of the fantasy. Coco herself understood the market way back in the 1920s when she was one of the first designers to herald the concept of a cruise collection.

Named after its core audience — the well-heeled, jet-setting fashionistas who holiday away the colder winter months in balmy, tropical locales — a cruise collection fills the gap between winter and spring, when people want a fresh start after winter but the delivery of the spring collections is still many weeks away. Typically in stores in November, it would be safe to say, the strategic essence of a cruise collection is to sell, and sell more. According to Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel, Cruise now represents the brands’ biggest and most important delivery of the year. It is also unofficially the most ‘affordable’ of six annual collections under the Chanel umbrella.

No surprises then, the Dubai edition of the show, which is held annually in May in a different city and often touted as fashion’s most exclusive party (in addition to Chanel Metiers d’Art show, which was in Dallas last year) is costing the maison a rumoured $2.5 million (Dh9.1 million).