Marcia Messmer has been a Chanel client for 30 years. The entrepreneur, who runs a stationery brand called Guinea Pig Calendar Company, flew from Los Angeles to Paris with her daughter-in-law Alycia Messmer to see Chanel’s spring/summer ready-to-wear collection, at the behest of the fashion giant. For Messmer, the runway operates something like a private trunk show.

“It’s ready-to-wear, and the production will be slightly different, but it gives you an idea of what you might buy for the season,” she says. Messmer owns, she estimates, between 150 and 200 pieces of Chanel, and today is wearing the brand head-to-toe, just as her daughter-in-law is.