The hat of a rickshaw driver, done up in felt. Photo Credit: Getty Images

The quilted bag she holds is supposedly inspired by China's invention of quilting. Photo Credit: Getty Images

Every year, Chanel’s head designer, pony-tailed Karl Lagerfeld, puts on an “extra” collection apart from the Fall and Spring and Cruise collections. Last year, it was in Moscow — perhaps the last cavern of wealth not yet carved out by the recession. But yesterday, Chanel’s “Musee d’Arts” collection stormed through Shanghai. And what was the theme?

It seemed to yours truly that the real theme was Orientalism. But Lagerfeld will have it that it was inspired by Shanghai’s “local art and antiques.” The debut collection, which you can watch online on 12/4 or 12/5 depending on your locale, included few Asian models, some of whom wore felt versions of the hats that rickshaw drivers would wear. And the whole thing seemed inspired by the pre-communist era — the ’20s and 30s — where exotic China was a luxury travel destination for wealthy Europeans. Sure, parts were pretty. But I thought there was something vaguely disturbing. Then I saw the video he showed the crowds there.

The hat of a communist member on the head of a model selling a $5,000 dollar dress. Photo Credit: Getty Images

White models with kohl-lined eyes wear the clothes of China’s working-class: quilted pants and jackets, dark caps pulled low. “That’s a beautiful bag,” the model says, complementing Coco. And Coco  quips back: “I love your trousers, they’re long and they’re elegant.” Then she dresses the working-class kids / models in her designs.

It’s absurd, laughable, perhaps not to be taken seriously. Then they’re on a train, a la Dietrich in Shanghai Express, and then they’re in a smoky Mah-jong parlor, and then they’re talking about opium. This isn’t realism — no fashion is. But it’s a disturbing image of a country to show that country’s buyers; a glaring cartoonish vision from the other side of the world.

Shanghai, the international port city of China long under French control, has always had the reputation of being the wealthiest and thus trendiest, ritziest, and snobbiest of Chinese cities. (And one of the most beautiful!) Because of this, it is also the city that so many Westerners romanticized to fit their ideals of a Chinese city; the clean, happy, rich China they wanted to see.

Check out the video above and see if you agree.