About Chanel's Collections

# About Chanel's Collections Chanel releases ten collections a year, each with its own letter code. There is also a continuous 'classic' collection, demarcated with the letter V, for certain bags and accessories. | Letter Code | Name | Also may be referred to as... | Last Known Link At chanel.com | | ----------- | -------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | C | [[Cruise Collections]] | Resort, Croisière | [Cruise 2024/25](https://www.chanel.com/ww/fashion/collection/cruise-2024-25/) | | P | [[Spring-Summer Pre-Collection]] | SS Act 1, Pre-Spring | [S/S Pre-Collection 2025](https://www.chanel.com/ww/fashion/collection/spring-summer-2025-pre-collection/) | | S | [[Spring-Summer RTW]] | SS, SS Act 2, SS RTW, SS Runway, Printemps-Été | [S/S RTW 2025](https://www.chanel.com/ww/fashion/collection/spring-summer-2025/) | | M | [[Coco Beach]] | Beach wear, swim collection | [Coco Beach 2024](https://www.chanel.com/ie/fashion/collection/chanel-coco-beach-2024/) | | | [[Spring-Summer Haute Couture]] | High couture, custom | [S/S HC 2025](https://www.chanel.com/us/haute-couture/spring-summer-2025/) | | A | [[Métiers d'Art]] | Pre-Fall*, Métiers | [2024/25 Metiers](https://www.chanel.com/ww/fashion/collection/metiers-art-2024-25/) | | B | [[Fall-Winter Pre-Collection]] | FW Act 1, Pre-Fall | [F/W Pre-Collection 2024](https://www.chanel.com/us/fashion/fall-winter-2024-25-pre-collection/l/1x2x69/the-looks/) | | K | [[Fall-Winter RTW]] | FW Act 2, FW RTW, FW Runway, Automne-Hiver | [F/W RTW 2024/25](https://www.chanel.com/ww/fashion/collection/fall-winter-2024-25/) | | | [[Fall-Winter Haute Couture]] | High couture, custom | [F/W HC 2024/25](https://www.chanel.com/ww/haute-couture/fall-winter-2024-25/) | | N | [[Coco Neige]] | Ski wear, winter sports collection | [Coco Neige 2024/25](https://www.chanel.com/us/fashion/collection/chanel-coco-neige-2024/) | | V | Classic | Continuous collection (certain bags and accessories) | | Note that Cruise is always referred to by the upcoming year, not the prior year it was released. For example, Cruise 2024/25 is referred to as 25C. \*There is confusion around Métiers and Pre-Fall. You will often see Métiers referred to pre-fall in even publications like Vogue. But according to Bruno Pavlovsky in 2015 (see below), Métiers is *not* pre-fall. Note that Métiers d'Art began in 2001/02, and the Acts were not introduced some time in the mid-10s. I believe this is what has led to the ongoing confusion. ### More on Acts and Pre-Season Collections For both spring-summer and fall-winter, there are pre-collections, as noted above, also known as "Act One" of their respective seasons. They are not shown on the runway, and they are catalogued with a straightforward lookbook rather than a themed, staged shoot. They tend towards daywear, loungewear, and overall less intricate creations. The earliest reference I can find about the Acts online is from page **source** (not in the text of the page itself) on Chouquette's [Chanel SS14 Press Day](https://clairechanelle.com/chanel-ss14-press-day/), from December 15, 2013. Acts were new enough to need explanation in an article from WWD in early 2015, and they still remain something of an unknown concept. I have excerpted the relevant sections below. | **[[WWD]]: [Chanel Stages ‘Act 1’ Pre-Fall for Buyers](https://wwd.com/fashion-news/designer-luxury/chanel-stages-act-1-pre-fall-for-buyers-8163466/) • February 9, 2015 • [[Miles Socha]]** | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Only 10 days after the couture, Chanel staged another fashion show here Friday — although strictly for buyers. About 200 of them gathered at Chanel’s Rue Cambon salons for the commercial unveiling of its pre-fall collection, known internally as Act 1, with the fall 2015 runway show Karl Lagerfeld will mount in Paris next month known as Act 2. While lesser known, the pre-fall range spans a vast offering of ready-to-wear and accessories, and is one of six collections delivered to Chanel’s boutiques and wholesale clients each year. “Métiers d’Art has nothing to do with pre-fall, and cruise has nothing to do with pre-spring,” explained Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel fashion, referring to the two itinerant fashion shows that begin each season, and noting these “special events” also exalt a facet of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s legacy, and nod to local dress customs. Last year, Chanel traveled to Salzburg for its latest Métiers d’Art, a luxurious collection embellished with the work of the specialty couture ateliers that Chanel owns, and to Dubai for its cruise show. Each was followed by another interim pre-collection. Pavlovsky explained that the Métiers d’Art range is delivered to stores in May, Act 1 pre-fall in July and the Act 2 runway collection in September. “This allows us to have something new every two months in the boutiques,” he said, noting that most of its designer competitors only create two collections a season: pre- and runway. Chanel began staging cruise shows in 2000, and added the Métiers d’Art range in 2002. ...Chanel’s Act 1 pre-collections are “purchased more by product category” than runway collections, and they tend to be more focused on daywear, Pavlovsky noted. ...Lagerfeld occasionally shoots short movies or video clips around the Act 1 collections, with most communication done in the digital sphere, Pavlovsky noted. | Also from [[WWD]], on between-season RTW, and the genesis of Coco Neige and Coco Beach: | **[Karl-onomics: Lavish Spending, Brilliant Storytelling](https://wwd.com/feature/karl-onomics-lavish-spending-brilliant-storytelling-1203052994/) • March 5, 2019 • [[Miles Socha]]** | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | No one could have foreseen the reverberations of a small, 30-look show in December 2002 that Lagerfeld dubbed “[[Satellite Love]],” his term for this new concept: a between-season collection of ready-to-wear embellished by the specialty ateliers Chanel began to acquire in order to preserve the rare craft skills used by the handful of remaining couture houses. It was a charming event, held at the historic Rue Cambon couture salons, with the 65 guests in attendance — including chief executive officers from luxury rivals Hermes and Louis Vuitton, which used Chanel’s ateliers — handed packs of CC-branded chocolate cigarettes. Hard to remember exactly the clothes; impossible not to recognize now how prescient this was. Lagerfeld would end his career at Chanel with a self-imposed mandate to design 10 collections a year. In 2018, he added ski and swimwear capsule lines to the ready-to-wear offer: [[Coco Neige]] and [[Coco Beach]]. The designer got the idea while on summer vacation in Saint-Tropez, where he noticed the Chanel store lacked a strong assortment of beach gear. (In addition to his biannual ready-to-wear show, the designer was responsible for two couture shows, a cruise collection and the annual Métiers d’Art line. He also oversaw the pre-collections that are shown internally to buyers from Chanel’s boutiques worldwide.) |