Well, Virginie Viard did not come to play this season! For SS21, the house’s new creative director took inspiration from the it-girls of yesteryear – think Romy Schneider, Anna Karina, Jeanne Moreau – not you Bridgitte Bardot! “This collection is a tribute to the muses of the house,” said Viard of her fashionable love letter to cinema, and what a tribute it was.

The playful, youth-centred collection had everything from high-waisted denim in bubblegum pinks and baby blue’s to sleek printed tees bearing the 5-second countdown of a film leader. Yes, printed t-shirts, at Chanel! Prints were done in electrifying neon, on an array of rainbow-lit bags, asymmetric dresses and baggy overshirts, giving a whole new meaning to fluorescent adolescent.

The classic codes of the house were still there too, in pastel scarves, pastel boucle knit vests, teenie pastel clutches that dangled from wrist-chains and even pastel renditions of the Marge Simpson Chanel suit. It was betwixt these staples that Viard’s zest for youth shone brightest, in splashes of red silk and shimmering black glitter, on printed skirts and iPhone carrying neck-pouches. Whether organza capes or ostrich feathered bolero jackets are your poison or not, you can’t deny Viard knows exactly how to fashion up a good time, and look fabulous doing it.