CHANEL SPRING / SUMMER 2009 BLACK LACQUERED CHERRYWOOD CC LOGO ACOUSTIC GUITAR

Limited edition of 20 pieces. Black lacquered cherrywood guitar from Chanel’s Spring/Summer 2009 ready-to-wear runway show under the artistic direction of Karl Lagerfeld.

As Chanel.com stated on the 3rd of October 2008: "The most surprising accessory of the next summer: a black acoustic guitar and its white quilted case",

Karl Lagerfeld explains with a laugh: "Coco Chanel had an affair with Stravinsky, mine was with a guitar."

“Since it's not exactly feasible to invite people to view a Chanel collection in-house, as it used to be done, Karl Lagerfeld instead decided to bring the Rue Cambon to the thousand or so people who crowded into the Grand Palais. A life-size facade of the storied Chanel building at number 31—complete with a street runway—had been dropped into the space. The doors opened, "Our House" by Madness struck up on the sound system, and a line of Chanel-clad pedestrians streamed out.” noted Sarah Mower for Vogue on October 30th 2008, “It was a charming, expensive shot of celebratory fun rolled out with supreme confidence. Lagerfeld said the theme was inspired by a grayish portrait by Marie Laurencin, who painted Coco Chanel in the twenties, but really, it was yet another of his long, allusive, sometimes mischievous excursions around the house set pieces. The fact that there's an untainted core to this label—the tweeds, bows, camellias, and ineffably pretty cocktailwear—means Lagerfeld can take full license to nod to all sides of the road. So, within a relatively tight palette of black, white, and gray, he made free with current references to graphic checks (done in a painterly way on sleeveless suits), metallics and sheerness (in tissue-fine silvery pink lamé and crunchy, sparkly paillette embroideries), and lingerie notes (a bit of boudoir styling in marabou-heeled shoes and frilled negligee sleeves).”

“This, however, is far from an adequate précis of the multifaceted Chanel action on the runway. It encompassed jumpsuits and Empire gowns, flamenco-cum-western ruffled skirts, black ciré swimwear, and, in the middle of it all, a kitsch skit on the Chanel carrier bag: little shopping bags in pink leather. In the end, though, it was the delicious eveningwear that carried the show to a lovely conclusion: long, narrow skirtsuits with cropped boleros, a pink vertically pleated dress, and, yes, even a gray-tinted cloudy georgette flowing dress that could have sat for Marie Laurencin.”

L: 88 cm / 34.5 in

W: 5 cm / 2 in.

Made in France.

Provenance:

A close confidant to Karl Lagerfeld, used to give him ideas on 'novelty' items to make for the ready-to-wear line and it's accompanying 'Identification/Sports' line. This person had a family member who was a musician and in that same year, he brought up the idea to make an acoustic guitar. This is that person's guitar! Karl Lagerfeld invited him to the Chanel showroom to tune 20 black and 20 white guitars. As a thank you, Karl Lagerfeld gifted this person this guitar.