Chanel goes to Hollywood: hotpants and catsuits land in the city of garlands

"Fashion doesn't always have to be serious," shrugged Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel's fashion president, as a troupe of high-speed roller skaters ponytail in sequined lamé catsuits weaved a conga line across a California basketball court and Patrice Rushen's 1982 dancefloor classic Forget Me Nots blared from the loudspeakers.

Chanel shows don't normally end with Snoop Dogg on stage asking the crowd, "Do we have weed smokers in the lodge?" But the house of the neat tweed suit and the little black dress has been in an unusually high mood lately. A week after a 6-foot furry tribute to Karl Lagerfeld's beloved pet cat stole the show at the Met Gala costume extravaganza, where Chanel was the title sponsor, current designer Virginie Viard snagged goes head-to-head with its flamboyant predecessor with a night of kitsch Americana will launch its latest cruise collection in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. " data-spacefinder-type=" model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement" class=" dcr-a2pvoh">

Fashion usually looks to Hollywood for untouchable glamour, but here, Hollywood meant fun. It was the goofy, wry, pastel-toned Hollywood of Clueless, Almost Famous, I, Tonya and the next Barbie movie rather than the rarefied big-screen world of High Society and The Philadelphia Story.

< p class="dcr-8zipgp">The night air was not scented with Chanel No. 5, but with the characteristic grilled onion scent of the burger trucks that lined the catwalk. When Margot Robbie, Nile Rodgers and Kristen Stewart were...