Considering Chanel

I love to read British, Italian, and Australian Vogue online with my morning coffee. I discovered them during the pandemic and find I really enjoy keeping up with the news on fashion and design. There are often inspirational photos like this one of Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel reclining on a sofa in her 31 Rue Cambon apartment taken in 1937 by Horst P. Horst. (2022, Cary, A. “Inside Coco Chanel’s Decadent 31 Rue Cambon Apartment”, Vogue). Knowing something about current fashion also gives me a connection to my nieces.

When I was in my late teens I had a part time job at the public library. On Saturdays during my lunch break I would go into the shelving room behind the desk and pull out a stack of Vogue magazines to study when I finished eating my sandwich which took all of 5 minutes.  How I loved the large format, the glossy pages, and the beautiful clothes inside. I remember carefully studying the clothes and, as I read, learning about how to put together a “look”. Later in life I made it a point to visit the bookstore looking for the latest Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar magazine to purchase. I cut out and saved photos of clothes I found particularly interesting or beautiful.  To this day I have an expandable brown folder filled with photos and tied with a ribbon.

I have been interested in fashion since I was a young girl in Houston wearing dresses with scratchy petticoats. I can usually remember what I was wearing on any special occasion. For example, the pale gray merino wool sweater dress I wore to my first homecoming football game.  My mother taught me to sew and I adored taking a sleeve from one pattern and pairing it with a bodice from another to create my own unique looks. We would go together to the fabric store and search through bolts of fabric on sale and the remnants table. We prided ourselves in being able to make an outfit for a few dollars. (More on making some of my own clothes in future posts!)

Here is a photo of me taken by photographer, Ron Scott when I was in high school, wearing a dress we called the “seaweed dress” because it was greenish black and semi sheer with a wrap top and a bias-cut skirt that flowed like seaweed in the ocean. I got the fabric for 50 cents a yard!

I saw my first and only iconic Chanel shopping bag in a hotel in London. I was sitting in the lobby, waiting for my husband and writing in my journal. I looked up and saw a woman sitting at the bar with a Chanel bag at her feet. I wondered what it would be like to have something made by Chanel. Though I will never have such a garment, I can certainly appreciate Chanel’s contribution to design.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London will present an exhibition titled Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto from September 16, 2023 to February 25, 2024. I will try and follow up with a post about this when it opens.

Chanel herself created the designs from 1910 to her death in 1971. Karl Lagerfeld became the Creative Director for the House of Chanel in 1983 through 2019 when he passed away. He was succeeded by Virginie Viard who was his closest creative partner at Chanel for the 30 years previous. Both Karl Lagerfeld and Virginie Viard have retained the core of the Chanel fashion philosophy while providing exciting and timely innovations to retain the relevance and appeal of the clothes. Anders Christian Madsen writes for Vogue U.K. online. In his “5 Things To Know  About Chanel’s Nouvelle Vague-Inspired SS23 Show” (Spring-Summer) noted that Karl Lagerfeld and now Virginie Viard continue to be inspired by the work of Chanel , most recently with this latest collection referring back to the clothes Chanel designed for the 1961 film by Alain Resnais, Last Year at Marienbad.

In today’s body conscious times we wouldn’t dream of wearing a corset unless it was perhaps one by Versace. Chanel has given us timeless, elegant, classic clothes. She adapted men’s clothes, refined lines, innovated with fabrics, and worked with a strong, limited color palette, usually black or white.  She began designing hats, working with straw boaters and adding minimal trim. This was extremely innovative in the early 1900’s when women’s hats were extravagant in both size and ornamentation. (Photo from The Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute: Fashion A History from the 18^th to the 20^th Century published by Taschen)

Chanel is often associated with the jewelry she wore, and later designed; multiple strands of pearls or gold chain necklaces and wide cuff bracelets. In addition to her famous suits with the boxy jackets, she was known for her knitwear.

She dressed in suits and hats while working. This suit looks like something worn today and yet it was designed in the 1930’s. You can see her wide cuff bracelets and the mesh belt as well as the multiple chain necklaces. (Photo from Chanel: Collections and Creations by Daniele Bott)

This beige silk slip dress inset with lace was created in 1930. The slip dress is popular today and never seems to go out of style.

Below is a drawing of one of Chanel’s early designs, simply cut with no embellishment other than the graceful flow of the skirt. (Photo from Vogue: The Gown by Jo Ellison)

Even though I am not likely to own a Chanel original creation I, like many others, find references to her designs in my own wardrobe. I wore bell-bottomed blue jeans embellished with pearls and embroidered bird patches in the 1970’s, but my closet is now a study in black, white, and shades of brown. I like to wear monochromatic and simply cut clothes and have a collection of black turtleneck sweaters I wear almost like a uniform. I love to wear clothes that are quiet and refined. (More about this in future posts).

I do have multiple strands of pearls and wear them frequently when not working in the garden. I have created and strung my own pearl necklaces and often use baroque or naturally formed rough pearls. Pearls, coming from oysters, are the only jewel made by a living creature. I like the feel of them against my skin and the luster they impart.

If you would like to know more about the life and work of Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel I recommend reading Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life by Justine Picardie, the former Features Editor of British Vogue. It is a well-researched and fascinating read and would be a wonderful addition to the collection of anyone interested in fashion.

Clothes label photo from The Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute: Fashion A History from the 18^th to the 20^th Century published by Taschen.