Inside Chanel's snow-covered winter wonderland farewell to Karl Lagerfeld

(Image credit: Rex)

Following Karl Lagerfeld's last Fendi show at Milan Fashion Week, all eyes were on Chanel today as the fashion house bid farewell to its designer. For AW19, it worked its magic yet again by transforming the Grand Palais into snowy chalet scene which summed up Karl's creative genius (let us not forget the supermarket, space station, waterfall, beach, forest...).

Muses old and new were there to bid him farewell: Claudia, Naomi, Cara, Marion, Kristen... and needless to say the venue was packed. But the buzzing stopped just before the show as a minute's silence was held.

Our editor-in-chief Trish Halpin says, 'There were gentle bells and then silence, before a clip of Karl talking about how fashion had the power to transform women was played.'

On seats was a card illustrated with Karl and Coco Chanel, with the words 'The beat goes on'. Then the show opened with Cara Delevingne, who had a very close relationship with the designer. She recently wrote, 'He changed my life, he believed in me when so many others didn’t including myself.'

Then came Penelope Cruz, in a faux fur white skirt and holding a white rose. The collection was perhaps all the more poignant in that it was very Karl, and very Chanel. There were tweed checked suits, hats and blazers, all in the signature monochrome palette the designer chose for his own uniform.

The most poignant moment came with the finale, where models couldn't contain their emotion.

Trish says, 'David Bowie's Heroes played as the models walked together, and received a standing ovation. It was both respectful and joyful'.

While there won't be a funeral (Karl didn't want one), it is believed there will be a memorial service for the designer in June.

Farewell Karl.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.