Channelling Chanel: Crystallizing in A/W 2012

We really should have spotted this one miles off. Considering the slick geometry seen gracing the runways of LAMB and Balenciaga last Spring, it's almost surprising that nobody managed the transition to crystalline couture sooner. But it is no surprise at all that when somebody finally did make the move, it was Chanel. In a beautiful evolution from the ice and pearls so recently favoured by Karl Lagerfield, when their A/W 2012 collection hit the catwalk at Paris Fashion Week last month, it was crystal clear (oh yes I did...) that they had hit upon something special. Taking a marked detour from the more familiar high fashion backdrop of a private jet (S/S 2012), this show (for that is what Chanel World is - a spectacle!) saw its models weaving through an ethereal landscape of 30ft blocks of uncut amethyst, rock crystal and opaque quartz.

These chunky bangles and an amethyst-like clutch, festooned (lovely word, had to use it) with rose quartz, combined to set my own special version of Spidey-sense - we shall call it Magpie-radar - into red alert, and it made me happy.

Jagged blocks of crystal in pale, watery shades were incorporated into many a collar, studded the 5-inch heels (below) and were heavily encrusted to lapels and cuffs. They also, in a surprisingly charming style, graced several eyebrows of Chanel's beautiful, nymph-like models.

The mineral theme was also translated into fabric metaphors, with combinations of wool and leather sculpted into suggestively angular forms. Flushes of sulphur, lapis-lazuli, emerald and amethyst are here brought to life in juxtaposition with more gentle shades of azurite and obsidian. Pure prismic joy. 

As Lagerfield modestly said to style.com, "Nature is the greatest designer", and I am totally in accord. However, it is thrilling to see how versatile a designer Lagerfield himself is, even managing to incorporate Chanel classics like the feminine white-skirt-suit and thick woollen jumpsuit into even this most original of collections.

(cue applause)