An evening with Chanel
With my CHANEL bag firmly tucked under my arm, I stroll from the Stopera parking garage towards hotel De L’Europe. As my velvet Sergio Rossi shoes, which finally got to come out again, touch the red carpet of the hotel, I turn the logo of my bag outward. Here is the rough edge of the city – I just walked past a shopping cart filled to the brim with empty bottles – suddenly far away.
If luxury is a scent, then you can smell it here. An indefinable mix of perfumes, candles, winter cocktails, and fresh flowers.
“I believe you are the first,” says the waiter who guides me towards the bar. A pleasure that doesn’t happen to me very often: being the first. It gives me the opportunity to have the hostess, creative director Jetteke van Lexmond, all to myself for a moment. With a winter champagne cocktail in hand, we sink deep into the soft cushions of the velvet sofa.
“When I was asked to host an evening for Chanel, I immediately knew it had to be here. This hotel reminds me so much of Coco Chanel’s apartment,” says Jetteke, who has been a beloved friend of the house of Chanel for 25 years. She was very much looking forward to this evening, knowing that everyone she had invited felt the same.
Photographer Annemarieke van Drimmelen, Love Stories entrepreneur Marloes Hoedeman, of course her sister Lieke van Veggel-van Lexmond, Gloobles entrepreneur Stephanie van Rappard, Lilian Aperghis, founder of 2711 Interiors, Hendrikje Crebolder – former director of the Rijksmuseum, now board member of the Prins Claus Fund – PR man Roger Brunings, and top model Linda Spierings, who just had a shoot with Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.
A delightful company bound by entrepreneurship and a healthy love for Chanel and everything that comes with it.
“Coco Chanel is a guide for me. Not only her fashion and style, but also how she approached life – as an entrepreneur, as an independent woman, as a beloved, as a friend. I often think, at the crossroads of life: what would Coco Chanel have done?” Jetteke tells the group as she addresses them between courses, while trays of watches and rings are passed around to touch and admire.
After dinner, my favorite part of the evening begins. The jackets go on and we move towards the hotel’s embarkation point and step into a salon boat that will take us along the canals during the Amsterdam Light Festival. For everyone, their personal teapot is ready – the luxury – with the best dessert I’ve had in months. A shift created a natural, changing table arrangement allowing us to speak with a different part of the table.
Upon returning to the hotel, Magali and Ichraf, the amazing PR team from Chanel, are waiting for us. For each, a flower, perfectly wrapped in black matte paper with a Chanel ribbon tied around it and a bag to take home containing the Sublimage cream from their most prestigious line.
As I walk back over the Staalmeestersbrug towards the Stopera, I think of Jetteke’s words, who wonders what Coco Chanel would think of certain moments or situations. One thing I know for sure: this evening – with all those stylish, original, model-loving, and entrepreneurial women – she would have loved to be there.
Image: @katerinabezede
