Coco Chanel: The Life of a Fashion Icon

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Fri 04 Oct 2024 - Sat 19 Oct 2024

Ballet-goers hold onto your hats. As you enter the Playhouse theatre you will find yourself submerged in mesmerising vistas of a whirlwind Parisian life of couture and high society set in the early to mid-1900s. But also you will be plunged into the turbulent life and romances of Coco Chanel; the enigmatic, chain-smoking, driven and flawed protagonist of this ballet. Writ large, her character is brilliantly sketched by choreographer, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, in a series of vignettes that tell the story of her passionate and tortured life.



This sellout performance, in my opinion, is one of Queensland Ballet’s finest. As the series of vignettes unfold, you are treated to so many clever and well-crafted devices in the choreography and staging that you are left in no doubt that this is a standout creation by a collection of masters of their craft. Staging, choreography, costuming and music coalesced so well together that it was a seamless production that could not help but leave audience members powerfully affected by the drama embedded in every detail.



So why a ballet about Chanel? Chanel appears in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century and was the only fashion designer on the list. Choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa spent two years researching the French designer which no doubt explains the high calibre of characterisation and historical detail reflected in the choreography. It becomes very clear that the role and status of women is front and centre in this production. As Annabelle stated, “I find it gratifying to present a ballet with a theme that enlightens us about the evolution of the position of women in society.”



As you might imagine with this theme in mind, male dancers provided more supportive roles which mainly leaned towards representing Chanel’s lovers and business colleagues. Included were lovers Etienne Balsan (D’ArcyBrazier), Boy Capel (Patricio Reve), and businessman Pierre Wertheimer (Luke DiMattina). They provided a framework for understanding Coco Chanel rather than showcasing their characters but, like all the dancers onstage tonight, they performed their roles with aplomb.



Coco Chanel was danced by Naneka Yoshida tonight who ably captured the early carefree spirit of Coco and morphed her character to represent the next sixty years throughout her turbulent love affairs, obsessive work, and indulgent lavish lifestyle to her final days as a tyrannical and extremely lonely old woman. Such characterisation through dance requires a professionalism that Yoshida truly achieved. In addition, the character had another complex role; to relate to her future self in the form of a shadow character danced tonight by Kaho Kato. As a performance device, it was a genius method to express the draw of deep ambition residing in Coco Chanel; the future self as a chain-smoking obsessive demanding spirit lured the younger Coco into a complex turbulent but successful life. Again Kato persuasively danced this role with subtlety and finesse in her simple costumed black pantsuit.



For costuming and sets, Jerome Kaplan from the end of 2020 worked very closely with choreographer Annabelle to seamlessly reflect her creative vision. Although the staging was minimalist, every nuance of design was imbued with meaning. An impressive starting point was the bentwood chairs that rose to the ceiling to become lights that shone on the drama below. Coco’s entry into millinery (hat design) utilised silhouettes of hats through artful lighting and her Nazi period of collaborating with the enemy had a stage drenched with blood-red and grim shadows of goose-stepping dancers. The epoque of early pre-war glamour had a magnificent art-deco chandelier and Coco’s simple design aesthetic was used as inspiration to keep sets and props simple and classic; like the Chanel No. 5 bottle. And then there was the clever use of moving stairs which both reflected the iconic interwoven double C logo and also staged Coco’s rise to the top and frequent descents. Similarly, the design of costumes was inspired by Chanel’s elegant but simple and comfortable designs displayed at the Pallais Galleria. Through the artful design of costumes, we saw the bold statement of freeing women of the restraining uncomfortable fashions of the Victorian era and later from the overly flouncy dresses of the Dior collection.



Additionally, choreography and costuming worked together to create human representations of themes. Two dancers (Georgia Swan and Edison Manual) were costumed to represent the Chanel logo and lithely danced a beautiful pas de deux with intertwining movements. Another clever device was to use male dancers in black with numbers hidden in their jackets to represent the perfumes that Coco viewed, eventually landing on number 5 as her decided favourite (hence Chanel No. 5). It is beyond the scope of this review to detail all the inspirational costuming, set, stage and lighting details of this performance but suffice it to say that they were outstanding.

In synchrony with this contemporary dance, the musical score by Peter Salem fitted in well with his stable of contemporary ballet works. Salem chose sombre and haunting themes to reflect the dark shadow behind Chanel’s life; that, even in her rags-to-riches story, her life was marked by tragedy and failed love affairs. The denouement of music and choreography shows a character who never finds lasting peace and dies feeling lonely and unloved. Under the capable Baton of Nigel Gaynor, The Camarata draws out this sombre theme interspersed with some more vivacious elements such as those surrounding Chanel’s love affair with Stravinsky and her funding of The Rite of Spring and accompanying some lively Ballet Russes style dancing.



In summary, this performance speaks to the calibre of performing arts we have in Brisbane Queensland in general and Queensland Ballet in particular. Excellence will be found in all elements of the performance from the quality of the dance to the staging, costuming, music, lighting and choreography. The lucky theatregoers who managed to get tickets will be treated to this feast for the senses but may go home somewhat perplexed by the story of a life which was so dazzling and successful yet so unsuccessful in the elements of existence that we find our deeper value.



Photography David Williams

Coco Chanel
Neneka Yoshida

Shadow Chanel
Kaho Kato

Arthur Edward 'Boy' Capel
Patricio Revé

Étienne Balsan
D'Arcy Brazier

‘Baron’ Hans Günther von Dincklage
Vito Bernasconi

Chanel's Sister, Julia
Alisa Pukkinen

Gabrielle Dorziat
Vanessa Morelli

Chanel logo
Georgia Swan
Edison Manuel

Igor Stravinsky
Joshua Ostermann

Pierre Wertheimer
Luke DiMattina

All other roles performed by Queensland Ballet dancers.

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