The house of Chanel and its legacy needs no introduction.
Behind the interlocking Cs, lies one of the most historical and influential parisian fashion houses since its founding in 1909. From within Chanel rose titans of the fashion industry, designers like Coco Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld, who completely changed the course of fashion, womenswear, and the entire idea of femininity. Although what Chanel evokes may be class and tradition, a tweed jacket and a string of pearls, if Lagerfeld's most recent show set in a giant supermarket is any indication, clearly Chanel is also at the frontline, pushing the limits in today's world. In tracing the fashion house back to its early days, it is clear that from the very beginning, Chanel somehow firmly guarded tradition while breaking the boundaries of fashion.
Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel
In 1910, an orphaned cabaret singer and part-time seamstress opened up her first shop on 21 Rue Cambon, Paris, and soon 20th century women's fashion would be transformed completely, and the Chanel powerhouse would be born. During a time of excessive style, women in tight corsets, over-the-top gowns and multi-coloured, feathered headpieces, Coco Chanel was something entirely different. Abandoning the corset, opting for simple colours and very often men's suits, Chanel's own style, her own instinct and confidence were the initial inspiration behind the Chanel fashion house. She brought her modernist philosophy to the clothes she made, and famously declared that she "freed the body". Indeed, she changed the way women dressed and introduced key waves of style and pieces of clothing that became immortalized and were forever engrained into women's fashion.
Coco Chanel's refreshingly unfussed, simple design aesthetic was a breath of fresh air. She gave women "chic sensibility", both what they wanted and needed. Chanel tossed out the constricting corsets, and the over-embellishments of the Belle Époque fashion that had dominated. One of her very first marks of change and influence was her revolutionary choice of fabrics. Her first taste of clothing success originated from a dress she had fashioned on a chilly day out of old jersey, a fabric utilized for the first time for womenswear by Chanel, that would later also become a Chanel staple. Jersey had previously only been used for men's underwear, and yet it was ideal for Chanel for its low costs, simplicity, and practicality. Jersey was comfortable and women could move in it. Coco Chanel liberated women and introduced a new wave of style that came to define how modern women dress. One where opulence and comfort went hand in hand, and one characterized by hidden luxury and demure sophistication.
Coco Chanel powered on through the 1920s as a force to be reckoned with, giving birth during this time to some of the most iconic and immortal designs in fashion history. Another pioneering element of Chanel's designs was her "borrowing from the boys", or her mixture of menswear with womenswear. She put women in wide-legged pants, cardigans and turtlenecks with a boyish charm (http://www.vogue.com/voguepedia/Chanel). From this menswear inspiration came the infamous Chanel suit in 1925. The suit consisted of a collarless, boxy wool jacket with a braid trim and metallic embellished buttons, as well as a matching, slimline skirt (http://www.wonderlandmagazine.com/2013/09/seven-wonders-how-coco-chanel-changed-the-course-of-womens-fashion/). Chanel's suit was the perfect choice for women in the workplace, and became an international sensation that spread to Hollywood royalties like Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn, and even Jacqueline Kennedy. The suit would become a timeless element and part of the definition of the Chanel brand up to this day.
Coco Chanel in the classic Chanel suit
Women all in Coco Chanel's designs
During the same time, Coco Chanel also popularized a much more muted and sophisticated colour palette for women's clothing, including colours like black, white and beige, which contrasted drastically with the obnoxiously loud colours and patterns that had previously been popular. In particular, she recognized the sophistication of the colour black, that had previously only been associated with mourning. Her design of the little black dress in 1926, a dress that was appropriate for both daytime and evenings that could also easily be dressed up for more formal occasions, became an absolute essential in every woman's wardrobe. When Chanel published the dress in American Vogue at the time, the magazine called the piece "Chanel's Ford", likening it to the car for its accessibility to women of all social classes, and predicting that it would become a "uniform" for upcoming generations. Indeed, the piece, like many other elements of Chanel's designs, has withstood the tests of time and trends that come and go, retaining its influence on women's fashion.
A version of Chanel's little black dress
A sketch of Chanel's black dress, published by Vogue magazine in 1926 and labelled "a frock all the world would wear"
Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel gave the world the modern woman, and along with it a new way of life and a new way of thinking about femininity. Yet in the ephemeral world of fashion, the times would eventually catch up with even Chanel's legacy. By the 1960s, Chanel seemed to have lost its clout amongst the generation of jeans and mini-skirt wearers (http://www.vogue.com/voguepedia/Karl_Lagerfeld). The brand would fall through the hands of dozens of different designers, each lasting no more than one or two years, until it would reach someone who could revitalize it. Karl Lagerfeld later recalled his friends' advice to decline the creative director position at Chanel: “Everybody said, ‘Don’t touch it, it’s dead, it will never come back.’ But by then I thought it was a challenge.” (http://www.vogue.com/voguepedia/Karl_Lagerfeld)
Karl Lagerfeld
In 1983, a German born Karl Lagerfeld took over the reigns at Chanel. His debut collection failed to ignite the audience, and came off badly in every detail in comparison to Coco Chanel's designs. From that attempt, it became obvious for Lagerfeld that the purely homage technique was never going to work. It was not more knowledge of Chanel's past that he needed, and more importantly, that was not where the future of fashion lay ("The Beautiful Fall"). Lagerfeld needed an entirely new approach. And he would take on a new approach to single-handedly revitalize and reinvent the legend of Chanel, and become one of the most influential and respected designers to this day. As one of the last traditional couturiers and yet with a mind of youthfulness, he brought exactly this balance to the brand. Lagerfeld skillfully injected Chanel with a dose of the present moment and with commercial youthfulness, all the while never losing touch with Chanel's defining, trademark elements. He cultivated the image of Chanel and the hype, one that firmly holds onto its past while always staying aligned with the fast-paced society.
Lagerfeld added complexity to the story of Chanel. He recognized and played with the traditional elements of the brand that were uniquely its own and that could withstand the tests of time: the tweed suits, little back dresses, pearls and camelias. Yet what he added to the mix was a youthful, modern aesthetic that opened up the brand to appeal to a much wider range of audience. His genius lies in the fact that every time you think he goes too far, Lagerfeld always brings Chanel back to home and you realize that in actuality, the echoes of Coco are not too far off at all. He gives us traditional Chanel mixed with the most modern of elements, and all executed with complexity, artistry and extravagance. In the Spring 2014 Couture show, calming music drifted out from a live orchestra of violins and a piano, and a sleek white stage revolved around to reveal bare staircases. Models skipped down the stairs, twirling for the audience with graceful, light movements. The show was like a breath of fresh air, and showcased the balance that Lagerfeld strikes between tradition and modernity. He did classic Chanel dresses and haute couture gowns in an array of light, spring colours, paired with shimmering sneakers and at times even elbow and knee pads. When he took the fashion world to a full-blown art show in the Spring 2014 Ready To Wear show, he gave us the quintessential Chanel suits and black dresses in jersey, paired with dramatically oversized pearls and a messy, artist grunge feel as if the models had just emerged from an art studio with smears of paint all over them. Lagerfeld takes traditional elements and excruciatingly complex designs that have been labored over, and makes them all seem fresh and easy. He has found his way of making ready-to-wear and even haute couture completely modern, and has kept the long-standing fashion house relevant throughout the 20th and 21st century.
Chanel Spring 2014 Couture
Chanel Spring 2014 Couture
Chanel Spring 2014 RTW
Chanel Spring 2014 RTW
In addition, with a Chanel show, the idea behind the show and the actual set are just as important as the clothing itself. A Chanel show is a monumental event, an experience for the mind, for all the senses, a journey, and undoubtedly a different one every time. With every show, Lagerfeld shows that he is the king of reinvention and change, a man "always exploring" (André Leon Talley of Vogue). He is able to stretch the Chanel fabric in every imaginable way, and always incorporates an unpredictably new concept or part of the world into his designs. This is the man who has done Chanel shows with models emerging from a gigantic iceberg, from towering crystalline quartz statues, from a massive, golden lion sculpture, and from a glittering globe, just to name a few. Indeed, there has even been the very recent Chanel Fall 2014 Ready To Wear show, inside a life-sized supermarket, complete with aisles and aisles of every kind of good you would find at a real supermarket, Chanel branded of course. There is always a new twist, a new concept or a new culture in Lagerfeld's clothes. He has taken Chanel, both literally and figuratively, all around the world to India, Scotland, Singapore, Texas, and most recently, Dubai. He finds his inspiration both in Chanel's historic archives, and in the world around him.
With everything that Lagerfeld does for Chanel, he both retains the fashion house's classic, historical image, as well as solidifies his own take on a more modern image of Chanel, one that is adaptable to an ever-changing world.
No comments:
Post a Comment