Fashion continues to invest in culture to breathe new life into cities. Chanel has recently reopened the Parisian cinema Le Saint Germain des Prés. Last year, in Rome, Maria Grazia Chiuri breathed new life into the Teatro della Cometa. Two ways of restoring value to the past
by Domenico Casoria
This is not merely a matter of patronage, nor is it simply about occupying spaces traditionally borrowed from others. For some years now, the fashion industry has increasingly begun to look beyond its own sphere of influence, turning to art, foundations, music and ballet. And now cinema and theatre have joined the fray – not merely as a form but as a substance, as places to be saved so that everyone can experience culture. The latest to do so has been Chanel, which has reopened Le Saint Germain des Prés, a historic Parisian arthouse cinema situated right in the beating heart of the Rive Gauche. But this is not the only example. Last year, Maria Grazia Chiuri, the current creative director of Fendi and former creative director at Dior, bought, restored and reopened the small Teatro della Cometa in Rome, restoring it to its former glory.
Living with culture: Paris
In recent months, Le Saint Germain des Prés has come back to life. The cinema, which had been in a state of limbo for years, has been brought back to life thanks to Chanel’s intervention, which went beyond mere restoration. The French brand has, in fact, revived a way of experiencing cinema. It consists of programmes structured as journeys, films that engage in dialogue across different eras, and directors who reconnect with their audience unfiltered in the darkness of the cinema. Everything has been brought back to a more tangible, perhaps more everyday, dimension, without the fanfare of promotional announcements. The fashion house, among other things, marked the reopening with a preview of Bertrand Mandico’s new film, “Roma Elastica”, which was presented at Cannes and brought back to Paris for the occasion.
Marion Cotillard, who has long been the brand’s muse and the face of the fashion house, took to the stage to discuss the film alongside the director in a direct, almost primal exchange, moderated by Ramata-Toulaye Sy. In short, no celebrations and no catwalk, just cinema returning to the place where it belongs. Moreover, this ‘event’ speaks volumes about the bond between Chanel and cinema. As far back as the 1930s, Mademoiselle had sensed that cinema would change the way women were viewed, and she chose to become part of it by dressing actresses, supporting directors, and moving between film sets and creative circles. Cocteau, Visconti, Malle, Resnais and many more. The Nouvelle Vague, for example, found in her a rather knowledgeable ally.
Living with culture: Rome
And so, whilst Parisian cinema is rediscovering its audience, in another European capital – Rome – the Teatro della Cometa has, for some months now, resumed hosting theatre companies, new plays and projects that would have found no home elsewhere. In 2020, Chiuri purchased the theatre together with the Rachele Regini family, and in 2025, following a restoration supervised by Chiuri herself, she reopened the historic salon of Countess Mimì Pecci Blunt, which had been inaugurated in 1958.
The renovation work, entrusted to architect Fabio Tudisco and designer Andrea Panzini, drew on the theatre’s original plans and sketches, as well as those of the boudoir where the countess used to receive artists and musicians for her chamber concerts. A cultural restoration (now fully operational once more) in every sense of the word, aimed at giving theatre lovers back a piece of Roman history. Two very different venues, in two cities that could not be more different, yet sharing the same starting point: bringing culture back to places that are capable of hosting it but had ceased to do so.
Photos: Teatro della Cometa and Chanel
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