The saying goes (well, at least at SCS) that “no one does luxury like Chanel“. The following might make you feel a little sad about your life so if you’re having a bad day, stop reading now.
For the opening of the new Numéros Privés exhibition, passengers boarded jet to the Las Vegas location loaded with Chanel gift bags to land and be greeted by a Wynn employee and whisked away in a black SUVs with interlocking Cs plastered to the tinted windows heading straight to the Wynn’s Tower Suites – no check-in required. Upon arrival to their rooms, yet another little black-and-white, logo-stamped bag awaited along with a voucher for a complimentary manicure and pedicure at the hotel spa. Those who indulged in the service said the salon’s usual nail polishes had been replaced with Chanel’s label for the weekend. The house hosted just under 200 guests for the opening weekend with the option of flying back Saturday or Sunday. Before the installation closes on Saturday, 15 more private client events will have cycled through the Wynn, with VIPs flying in from Chicago and Dallas throughout the week. The festivities started Friday night at 7 o’clock with a cocktail tour of the installation’s 10 little rooms, done up according to house codes — one for handbags, another for watches, fine jewelry, fragrances, a children’s room of Bearbrick dolls and a re-creation of Coco’s apartment on Rue Cambon. The standard “What happens in Vegas…” platitude was invoked countless times over the course of the next two days, often by Chanel publicists, who only half meant it. The point of throwing all this money around on an eight-day, invitation-only exhibition is to burnish the brand, to impress its “special friends,” for whom Chanel went to great lengths to ensure it was an experience they will remember for a very long time.To end the two day carnivale, guests were treated to Cirque du Soleil’s Le Rêve followed by dinner at the Barrymore in the Royal Resort, a far more modest outpost than the Wynn. In the lobby was a rival party called Kiss. The sight of its patrons dancing around in light-up tutus, pink wigs and little else inspired a turn in dinner conversation toward the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo that was also in town.