There was the time it was transformed into the world’s most fashionable supermarket. And the time a large replica Eiffel Tower looked like it was soaring above clouds and through the glass ceiling. There was also that winding dinner buffet so sumptuously set it would have made Marie Antoinette very jealous. And the season with the enormous gold lion. And the 40-foot waterfall. And the rocket ship. And the cruise liner. And that indoor beach that took 9 days, 266 tons of sand, and enough water to fill a 25-meter pool to build.
For 14 years, the Grand Palais was Karl Lagerfeld’s playground, a cavernous stage and blank canvas onto which the visionary designer could project his wildest imaginations and grandest ambitions—and flex a seemingly limitless budget. Even after his death, in 2019, that tradition has continued, and Chanel and the Grand Palais have remained as inextricably linked as tweed and denim, Coco and Rue Cambon.
Karl Lagerfeld staged a rocket launch for his Fall 2017 Chanel show.
Which makes sense, not only because few venues in Paris have the square footage to accommodate such stratospheric ideas, but because the Grand Palais was itself a product of bold ambition. The Beaux-Arts behemoth—a feat of engineering constructed of stone, iron, steel, and glass blending Classical and Art Nouveau styles—was built specifically for the 1900 Paris Exposition. It was the pièce de résistance of the world’s fair, and the crown jewel among the new landmarks—the Petit Palais, Pont Alexandre III, and Gare d’Orsay among them—constructed just for the event.
After a four-year facelift, the Grand Palais is ready for its next chapter.
For 124 years, the Grand Palais has stayed true to its founding mission: to promote arts and culture. Even during World War I, when it was turned into a hospital, local artists were conscripted to paint the hospital rooms. Like all historic institutions, the building eventually began to show its age. So Chanel stepped in, became a patron in 2018, and pledged its support for its restoration, which kicked off in 2021.
Now, after a four-year hiatus, Chanel is coming home. On October 1, the maison will present its Spring 2025 Paris fashion week collection in its usual spot (the Nave) in the Grand Palais. And it is looking to the future, too: Chanel upgraded to “major patron” status with the announcement this week of a new €30 million investment to support the institution’s artistic and cultural programming through 2028.
A runway snaked around a replica of Provence’s Verdon Gorge (complete with a real waterfall) for Chanel’s Spring 2018 show.
“The Grand Palais is this incredible machine that creates dreams. For us, it’s one of the places that embody the House of Chanel, in the same way as the Rue Cambon or the Place Vendôme,” Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel Fashion, said in a statement. “Like the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Palais will span the centuries.”
Leena Kim is an editor at Town & Country, where she covers travel, jewelry, education, weddings, and culture.
