PARIS – On a regular Thursday in Paris’ 19th arrondissement, Anne-marie Ramos, 57, is mum and hard at work, eyes trained on the pair of silk trousers in front of her. Or rather, what will become silk trousers.

For now, they exist as a gauzy light blue fabric on which the senior embroiderer is adding beads, stitch by stitch, to slowly take the shape of a flower.

For these delicate bottoms – made to look like denim in the trompe l’oeil (or “trick eye”) technique – from Chanel’s Metiers d’Art 2026 show, she uses two crochet hook needles characteristic of the Luneville technique.

The 19th-century French technique is used to create intricate chain stitches, on which beads or sequins are applied from the underside of the fabric.

With one hand on the tool and the other controlling the thread, Ramos pricks and pulls in hypnotic rhythm.