Known for his extravagant runway settings, designer Karl Lagerfeld led fashionistas into a serene garden on Tuesday, celebrating all things nature at the Chanel Haute Couture show in Paris.

Having previously turned the Grand Palais into an airport, supermarket and brasserie, the veteran designer, who has been at the creative helm of Chanel since 1983, sent models out of a wooden house and down a garden path bordered by a neat green lawn.

Models, with swept-back hair, wore belt pouches big enough to hold smartphones or tablets.

"You know it's an influence of everything. It's not like I said 'now let's do Japanese'. There were no kimonos, no no no no no. It's a kind of relax zen attitude in a modern spirit of today," Lagerfeld said.

Lagerfeld said the starting point for the line was "the silhouette", and he puffed up sleeves into oval shapes on Chanel's signature tweed jackets, pairing them with slim pencil skirts.

He noted the contrast with founding designer Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel.

"In reality, nobody had a silhouette like this - they were sloppy, they were completely different. For me it's really something, the silhouette and the attitude from the 21st century starting with the shoes and ending up with the hair," Lagerfeld said.

Evening wear consisted of embroidered strapless satin dresses and top-and-trouser combinations.

Model Kendall Jenner appeared on the catwalk wearing a plunging black dress.

Models arrived on the catwalk coming out of a big wooden house, which Lagerfeld said he would have loved to build for himself.

"It was my dream to have a house like this, but you don't get a permission in France to build a house like this. Everything is in wood and things like this, and I think it all match well," Lagerfeld said.

The show ended with the panels of the house opening up to reveal the models - including Jenner and Gigi Hadid - posing on the structure's three floors.