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Sea Swept: Diana Louise Bartlett Captures CHANEL’s Latest Cruise Collection in Marseille

While she’s visited many world-class cities throughout her career, there’s something intangibly exciting about Marseille that’s drawn photographer Diana Louise Bartlett time and time again. For her, its energy, its people, and the nearby sea have a moth-to-flame effect, sparking her creativity with each visit.

Photography by Diana Louise Bartlett, Fashion courtesy of CHANEL.

The bustling port of Marseille has been an inspiration for many artistic souls and innovators. Famed architect Le Corbusier’s work in the city revolutionized building designs throughout Europe. The juxtaposition of Le Corbusier’s work offset by the “vast blue sea” creates the visual delight that keeps Bartlett coming back for more.

“If you’re facing the water, you see 180 degrees of blue, and if you face the other direction you see 180 degrees of mountain,” she says. “It really is the best of both worlds.” 

Photography by Diana Louise Bartlett, Fashion courtesy of CHANEL.

While not directly linked to Marseille, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel had the same knack for innovation as Le Corbusier, changing the way women dressed for decades to come. The city’s vibrant and unique history—in addition to its vacation setting—made it the perfect setting to showcase CHANEL’s 2024/2025 Cruise collection.

Photography by Diana Louise Bartlett, Fashion courtesy of CHANEL.

Presented on the roof of Le Corbusier’s La Cité Radieuse, the collection drew inspiration from the sense of freedom felt throughout the city—the feeling of windswept hair while looking out at the sparkling sea, diving headfirst into the blue depths. 

Casual wear gets a CHANEL makeover with the collection, through high-low layering—sweatshirts stuffed under tweed coats, sleeveless dresses with kangaroo pockets, terry-towel flip flops with a platform, knitted Bermuda shorts with a scalloped trim, and cardigans evoking fishing nets. Patent leather shoes, inspired by menswear, and decadent layers of pearl necklaces further elevate the looks, and the swimwear brings the collection from day to night, as the city and the sea are forever intertwined for Marseille.

Photography by Diana Louise Bartlett, Fashion courtesy of CHANEL.

It’s a newer, laid-back tone for the typically refined house—and for Bartlett, “it felt like an introduction to a new Marseille.”

Photography by Diana Louise Bartlett, Fashion courtesy of CHANEL.

The elegant, carpe-diem nature captured in the collection matches the lively Marseille day Bartlett yearns for—her ideal day would find her swimming from the rocks at Les Goudes, lunch at Tuba Club, and a night in Marseille proper after a quick siesta. 

Photography by Diana Louise Bartlett, Fashion courtesy of CHANEL.

Photographing her days in Marseille, including the CHANEL Cruise show, she captures both the simplicity of life by the sea, and the lavishness. A perfect combination of a life well lived.

Photography by Diana Louise Bartlett, Fashion courtesy of CHANEL.

“In my work I like to photograph the mundanity of life, sometimes of an extravagant or a glamorous life,” Bartlett says. “My diary is a depiction of daily sensitivities and indulgences—it’s tongue-in-cheek.”

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