Patrick Kovarik, AFP | Models present creations for Chanel during the 2017 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show on October 4, 2016 in Paris

Designer Karl Lagerfeld turned Paris's iconic Grand Palais into a computer data centre Tuesday for a stunning Chanel show that was as retro as it was futuristic.

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Two models wearing white robot helmets led out the fashion house's collection -- which is arguably the highlight of Paris Fashion Week -- which mixed Chanel's classic Jackie Kennedy-style suits in computer wire colours with slinky lace-edged lingerie dresses in pinkish pearl and ivory.

With Chanel's famous interlacing "C"s logo rendered with computer wires, the German-born designer known as 'The Kaiser' went off on his own cyber voyage in search of truly chic geek.

To a heart-jolting techno version of Donna Summer's 1977 disco classic "I Feel Love", the 83-year-old fashion legend put the luxury brand's classic looks through a computer matrix, remaking them in the spirit of a memory board.

Beyond the Chanel knits in vivid computer colours contrasting with silky camisoles, his most eye-catching innovation was baseball caps worn to the side in electric pink, green and blue with large earrings and jewellery with logos a gogo.

"It's what I call intimate technology, femininity hidden between the hi-tech," Lagerfeld told AFP backstage.

Lingerie dresses

Of course nothing dates faster than visions of the future.

And asked if the collection had a slightly 1970s rainbow-coloured retro edge to it, Lagerfeld replied waspishly: "I do collections for today. The ideas of the 1970s I remember, thank you very much."

"This isn't a retrospective, it's a vision of the world as it is now. We depend on all this [technology], imagine your life without a telephone? The next step is artificial intelligence and robots," he added.

Lagerfeld said wanted his spring-summer collection to be strong on "lingerie because it contrasts ferociously with the automised universe" of our lives.

His spectacular Chanel shows are legend, having turned the Grand Palais – built for the Universal Exposition in 1900 – into a giant Paris restaurant, an airport lounge and a couture studio in the past.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

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