Around 20,000 handmade Chanel camellias bloom yearly in the ateliers of Maison Lemarié in myriad materials, each crafted from a minimum of sixteen petals cut and curled on white-hot curling irons before being whisked off to the Chanel couture and accessories workshops to garnish Karl’s creations.
Founded in 1880 by Palmyre Coyette, Maison Lemarié started out as a luxury feather supplier, furnishing the millinery industry with precious plumes from birds of paradise, peacocks, swans, ostriches, rheas, cockerels, and vultures that were meticulously cleaned, tinted, and trimmed before being applied to fabrics.
It was Coyette’s grandson André Lemarié who extended the business to flowers when he joined the firm in 1946, growing a gardenful of varieties requested by the house’s increasing coterie of fashion clients—including Dior, Balenciaga, Nina Ricci, Yves Saint Laurent, and Alexander McQueen — not to mention the blossoms required for the six yearly collections of Chanel, which acquired Maison Lemarié in 1996.
Few know that Lemarié also has an atelier specializing in decorative couture adornments from romantic flounces and cascade pleats to rich ruffles and smocking. Chanel’s couture and Métiers d’Art collections serve as playgrounds for the atelier’s talents; among the recent examples of their handiwork are the delicate silk origami squares in Chanel’s fall 2013 couture collection.
Click on the slideshow to see close-up of the artesans' works.
