In the midst of the fashion crisis, the line outside Chanel is revolutionary Real people looking for real clothes

There’s a line outside Chanel. A consideration that in itself doesn’t seem shocking but which, in the current state of fashion, has something almost revolutionary about it. Of course, in fashion districts around the world, a bit of a queue outside luxury boutiques is normal—perhaps less so in these times of crisis. But the fact that the arrival of a collection in stores worldwide drew so many people to line up to buy accessories costing thousands of euros has something extraordinary about it: it gives the feeling of having returned to more prosperous times.

The news of Chanel-mania in fashion circles has been covered by many international fashion publications: it’s rare, in a moment of sales crisis and sky-high prices, for the arrival of a collection in stores to become a phenomenon in itself. But perhaps the fascination this news has generated concerns its analog nature: it’s a fact that is not taking place online, it’s not an abstraction from a quarterly report but a human, physical, crowd event. But how did it develop?