A recreation of the original Chanel shop on rue Cambon

Leave it to Karl Lagerfeld to deliver on so many levels: great invitation, swag, celeb turnout, and set. And yes, even great clothes (with the exception of some 80s metallic prom dresses at the end, complete with poofy sleeves. Really, Karl? Really?)

Since the last few seasons have featured elaborate sets—remember the carousel?—an invite like this forcibly gets you thinking about what will be in store. Well, some invites you really can judge by their cover—it ended up being exactly true to what arrived in my mailbox: a recreation of the original Chanel shop on rue Cambon, complete with faux stains just like on any Paris building. So theatrical! It was like Our Town—if your town happened to be stone’s throw from the Tuileries garden the Ritz Hotel.  

It must be said that the first thing you do when you arrive at the Grand Palais for a Chanel show, before even taking your seat, is you line up to collect your swag. Yes! Finally some Parisian swag. We clamor for what we can get, but this was quite the score: a giant bottle of Chanel 5.

The show started with the upbeat song "Our House," and the models walked out the front door (Oh hello—there’s a runway in my front yard). There was something very quaint and friendly about it. It was all very, "Hi neighbor!"  

I had a great view of some celebs, including Claudia Schiffer, Zoe Kravitz, Emma Watson, and Clémence Poésy. A day with two Harry Potter gals side by side is a good day indeed.

For the finale, "Our House" was reprised and the girls walked out with Karl. The neighborhood never looked this good.