POWER COUPLE: To mark the centenary of the Villa Noailles, the modernist home built by art patrons Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles within the southern French town of Hyères, Chanel hosted a musical performance on Thursday on the 7L library in Paris, within the space that was Karl Lagerfeld’s photo studio.

Shelves lined with a staggering 33,000 books provided the backdrop for a preview of “Ressusciter la Rose,” the opera based on an original idea by Jean-Pierre Blanc, director of the Villa Noailles and founding father of the annual Hyères International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories.

“The place where we’re tonight is exclusive,” said Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion and president of Chanel SAS. “It reflects its creator’s immense culture and insatiable curiosity for all the humanities, including music, song, architecture, design and dance.”

Performers including French singer Camélia Jordana sang excerpts of the work, composed by Raphaël Lucas, wearing white costumes created by artist Jacques Merle and embroidered by Montex, one in all a stable of workshops owned by Chanel.

Members of the Wonsembe acrobatics troupe tumbled through the room as a part of the spectacle, which will probably be performed in full on Sept. 16, 17 and 18 on the Villa Noailles.

It was a part of a program of satellite events in Paris, Hyères and Marseille to mark the kick-off of the centenary celebrations, a multipronged affair that may also include a documentary film by Karim Zeriahen, and an exhibition dedicated to the wardrobe of Marie-Laure de Noailles.

“If people still talk concerning the Noailles today, it’s because they played an enormous part in our country’s artistic activity within the early 20^th century, they usually had this extraordinary aura that few other art patrons enjoyed, at a time when the Culture Ministry didn’t exist,” Blanc told WWD.

“They supported these artists not only for one-off events, but almost their whole lives, by providing for them financially and nurturing their artistic endeavors, and that is absolutely exceptional,” he added.

Among the many artists the couple hosted on the Bauhaus-inspired villa, designed by architect Robert Mallet-Stevens, were Man Ray, Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau.

Lagerfeld was amongst those fascinated with the place. In 1995 he published a book of photographs of the Villa Noailles, which had fallen into abandon before its 2003 renovation, and in 2015, he was the artistic director of the Hyères Festival. “Karl Lagerfeld modified the course of my life,” said Blanc.

Chanel is a significant sponsor of the centenary, and 7L will publish latest editions of the poems and novels of Marie-Laure de Noailles, who traveled in the identical circles as founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel and commonly wore the designer’s high fashion creations.

In Paris, several galleries and institutions launched teaser events on Thursday. The India Mahdavi gallery is hosting screenings of “Les Mystères du Château de Dé,” a 1929 film shot by Man Ray on the Villa Noailles, while the Galerie du Passage has photographs of Marie-Laure de Noailles by the likes of Willy Maywald and François-Marie Banier.

Purchased by the town of Hyères in 1973, the Villa Noailles is about to undergo one other round of renovations starting next 12 months.