A week after Chanel showed its resort collection at Lake Como, the charming towns and villages that line the 170-kilometre perimeter were still talking about la sfilata di Chanel (the Chanel Cruise fashion show). “Sei stata?” (You went?) “Che bello!” For centuries, Italian high society mingled at the spectacular waterfront villas, long before the destination started to draw tourists and celebrities alike. Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel first visited Lake Como in the 1930s, travelling there with her friend Luchino Visconti, and became enamoured as so many have before and since.

“At Chanel, we love Italy,” Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion at Chanel, has said at past shows staged in the land of the boot . For Chanel Cruise 2025/26, the Chanel Creation Studio chose Lake Como to stage a collection that celebrates the sweet Italian life but also to highlight the French maison’s long-standing relationship with Italian artisans: nearly 50 per cent of Chanel’s production takes place in Italy. In the Lake Como region alone, the shoemaker Roveda is making the majority of Chanel shoes, and Mantero, where Chanel has taken a stake, has been producing silk for Chanel blouses and printed scarves for more than 50 years.

A cinematic light enchanted at the splendid Villa d’Este, where Chanel held its Cruise collection. In the oasis of beauty of the 16th-century villa, there was an atmosphere of je ne sais quoi meets la dolce vita. The handwritten invitation on Villa d’Este stationery announced a “show on the terrace,” where among an audience mostly made up of Chanel’s biggest-spending clients and brand ambassadors, including Keira Knightley, Sofia Coppola, and Caroline de Maigret, enjoyed dolce far niente. The show is one of the last curated by the Chanel Creation Studio before Matthieu Blazy’s debut in October and had all the hallmarks of the maison—tweed, camellias, handbags, pearls, and layered chains—so it was familiar, and safe, territory. From taffeta to tweed, chiffon to suede, beach club to cocktail dresses and evening suits, the collection and the event as a whole captured all the good and great of Italy.

“Signori, we request you come inside as there will be a performance,” said the servers in white jackets and black bow-ties, who interrupted the postshow mingling to get the after-party going. Whispers of a surprise appearance by Kendrick Lamar, recently named a new ambassador for Chanel, were circling, but it was Alessandro Ristori (Italy’s version of Elvis) and his pelvic moves that had the crowd dancing with jubilance. But not the Italian contingent, who rolled their eyes at the sight of Ristori and made their exit. “Non ci posso credere” (“I cannot believe it”), said one Italian client on her way out, commenting on Ristori, the entertainer who has made a career of singing covers and who makes the rounds of Cortina, Forte dei Marmi, and Porto Cervo. Even so, in the storied Villa d’Este, leave it to Chanel to make Italian kitsch cool.

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