Chanel
Coco Chanel
Fashion
Celebrating the life of Coco Chanel 129 years since her birth.
Sunday, August 19, 2012On this day in 1883, the legendary fashion designer, Coco Chanel was born in Saumur, France. Celebrated for her timeless designs, tweed suits, pearls and little black dresses. Gabrielle Chanel's story was littered with heartbreak. Raised in an orphanage and taught to sew, Chanel was named Coco during a brief career as a singer. Chanel opened her shop on Paris’s Rue Cambon in 1910, selling hats. Her success as a designer began when she formed a dress out of jersey fabric, because she was cold. She repeated the design many times over for her clients and followed the success with the now legendary Chanel suit with a collarless jacket and fitted skirt.
Chanel's designs were revolutionary, inspired by elements of menswear and prioritising comfort over the constraints of corsets.
I began my love of all things Chanel when I was in my teens. I was given my Grandmothers Chanel 'Cambon' bag and started a personal investigation into The world of Chanel during my art and textiles lessons at school. I was instantly taken with the simple yet sophisticated outfits. The clothes were uncomplicated and paired with eye catching accessories, for example a multi-stranded pearl necklace, another love of mine.
In the 1920s, she launched her first perfume, simply known as Chanel No 5. It was also the first perfume to feature a designer’s name. Chanel once explained, Perfume “is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate accessory of fashion...that heralds your arrival and prolongs your departure".
Another revolutionary design of the 1920s was Chanel’s little black dress, for which we will be forever grateful. She took a colour associated with mourning and death and demonstrated how chic and sophisticated it could be.
Coco Chanel died on 10 January, 1971, at her apartment in the Ritz Hotel. Crowds gathered at the Church of the Madeleine in tribute to the fashion icon, many wearing the classic Chanel suits in her honour.
A little more than a decade after her death, designer Karl Lagerfeld took over at the helm of The House of Chanel, continuing the legacy of this celebrated Designer.
Listen to the short film below outlining Justine Picardie's biography on Coco Chanel, with illustrations by Karl Lagerfeld himself.
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