A true holiday is less about geographic adventure than finding a dreamlike alter ego. It’s the idea of a sun-dappled place where oversized eyewear, white shorts and endless apéritifs are the order of the day. Some destinations conjure this more easily than others. For me, Lake Como ushers in an otherworldly change of tone. Its azure waters, flanked by vertiginous green hills punctuated by palazzos, prime me for a transformation of self.

It’s this feeling that director Sofia Coppola cited as an inspiration for the short film that she made for the Chanel Cruise show, which took place this week in Como on the terrace of Villa d’Este. For her, the film, which features Danish model Ida Heiner, was “about that version of yourself when you get away” – the experience of time suspended.

As we gathered on the terrace of the 16th-century villa for the evening show, the waning light glistened off the lake while a gentle breeze blew through the wisteria and the guests’ coiffed curls. Margaret Qualley (in a chignon and shades) strode by with a tiny poodle in tow and we took our seats. The first pieces to emerge on the grey gravel runway channelled the 1960s as a soundtrack curated by music director Michel Gaubert set the mood. The light-tweed pedal pushers and tunics, shift dresses and silk bandanas summoned the spirit of Romy Schneider. Then the tone shifted to a 1970s-style moment of crochet and flowing, rose-hued lamé, with capes and ruffled collars. One look, a striped set made from terry towel paired with a pale straw hat and pink camellia, felt like a homage to the lake, the villa and the days when the likes of Rita Hayworth, Aristotle Onassis and Maria Callas would holiday here to escape the paparazzi.

It was also a nod to the maison’s cinematic past. Gabrielle Chanel dressed the young Romy Schneider in Le Travail (1962) for her filmmaker friend Luchino Visconti, whose family’s estate included the nearby neo-Renaissance palace Villa Erba.

The show crescendoed with some disco-inflected high glamour: a short, black taffeta bustier dress with an elegant cape, white taffeta evening trousers and a resplendent ball gown took us to a new-romantic dance floor.

As the post-show party got started, I stole away to take a look at the house and grounds that architect Pellegrino Pellegrini designed as a summer residence for the Cardinal of Como, Tolomeo Gallio. Later owned by Caroline of Brunswick, the estranged wife of the future King George IV, the gardens have a sumptuous, symmetrical grandeur. The landscaping’s intricate mosaics reminded me of the rich textures seen in the show – it was as though the metallic tweeds and bead-embellished jackets had taken their cue from Pellegrini.

The layers of history on the lake are clearly a rich seam for the Chanel studio. Villa d’Este is a spot that has a tradition of escapism, grand artistic ventures and fantasy. Inside, white-jacketed waiters topped up glasses engraved with filigree decoration and the spirit of the past was alive in filmic vignettes and inimitable Como memories.

This story originally appeared in Konfekt Kompakt, a newsletter from Monocle’s sister publication Konfekt – a quarterly magazine for sharp dressing, drinking, dining, travel and design. Subscribe to Konfekt Kompakt here, and see more from Konfekt on Instagram.