The good thing about showing a collection in a venue as opulently elegant as the Salzburgian rococo palace Schloss Leopoldskron, as Chanel did on Tuesday, is that you don t have to venture too far for an after-party venue. (And when banquet tables decadently overrun with local delicacies are part of your décor, you don t particularly have to knock yourself out on catering either.) It s a very civilized approach, as well as one that notably ensures a pretty strong level of guest retention between show and party—and when your venue is as dreamy as the Leopoldskron, letting your guests stick around to revel in it is really just the polite thing to do.
As the third and final show of the Métiers d Art collection rolled to a close in Salzburg (there were three spaced throughout the day to accommodate all of the guests), editors and guests like **Rooney Mara—**clad in gray-toned Chanel couture for the second day in a row, only this time backless and sequined—Geraldine Chaplin, Caroline de Maigret, Caroline Sieber, and Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey were treated to a cocktail hour and light dinner (venison, schnitzel, et al) passed by dirndl-dressed servers in the Leopoldskron s marble ballroom and out on the adjoining terrace, with its view of the inky waters of the Leopoldskroner Weiher and magnificent, if not presently visible view of the Untersberg. (Overcast skies combined with a dark night to foil anyone out to do their best Liesl and Rolfe in the Schloss’ garden.)
Models like Aymeline Valade, Soo Joo Park, and Cara Delevingne joined the fray to pick at the impressive heaps of fruit and pastries scattered amongst the runway they had just walked, before climbing back into the clothes that they had worn to the venue a good fourteen hours earlier (only this time boasting artfully burnished eyelids). And while after-after-party plans varied between late-night locales and early call times, all agreed on one thing: It had been well worth the trip.