Fashion designer and artist Karl Lagerfeld is never shy of tying in current events, layering them with festivities and presenting knockout shows through the year. Cruise is, when he brings out the big guns – having taken a host of press and members of the it-crowd to far-off venues like Dubai, Hong Kong and Seoul in the past. This time, the cruise 2017 party was set to be in Cuba. Following US President Barack Obama’s lift on the decades-old trade ban, designers swarmed to the romanticised nation of Cuba for inspiration. Earlier last week, as a part of the celebrations for the month of French culture in Cuba, the house of Chanel presented the ‘Obra en Proceso/Work in Progress’ photo exhibition. First came Choupette’s postcard from the Caribbean, followed by more Instagrams of a trip to writer and journalist Ernest Hemingway’s house, to license plates and technicolour convertibles sent to fetch the show guests. Sound director Michel Gaubert, supermodel Gisele Bundchen and Vogue International Fashion Editor Suzy Menkes, had already been teasing followers of what was to come. But the real party was on the runway. Vintage style T-shirts bearing ‘Viva la Cuba’, crochet dresses, tuxedo-inspired suits, appliqué chiffon dresses, raffia-esque weaves, prints of vintage Buick, Oldsmobile and Cadillacs and dress shoes – this season presented a wholesome holiday wardrobe. The show ended with Karl Lagerfeld taking a bow in a Saint Laurent jacket, and models attendees finally bursting into dance to the sounds of the rumba. The after party went to the Plaza de la Cathedral in Havana Old Town, just facing the San Cristobal, one of the most striking 18th century churches in Latin America. Spotted at the show were singer and model Vanessa Paradis, Gisele Bundchen, model Alice Dellal, actress and performing artist Tilda Swinton, model Caroline de Maigret and illustrator and model Langley Fox Hemingway. The work presented at the Factoría Habana displayed Lagerfeld’s perspective on the beauty of objects during their phases of creation.