France Food et Fashion đ«đ·đ«đ·
The French international reach is marked by its sophisticated gastronomy and its influential fashion History.
Paris is named the Fashion Capital for a reason. The City of Lights hosts the most prestigious high end fashion houses ever created. Among them, one has a particular place in my heart: la Maison Chanel. The historical house was created in Paris by Gabrielle "Coco" Chasnel. She opened her first official clothing boutique in Deauville in 1913.
Horses & Love
Gabrielle Chanel eponymous haute-couture house, was actually born out of an equestrian love triangle đł. She had an affair with two separate passionate high-born polo players: Etienne Bastian et Arthur "Boy" Capel (the latter was a married man...). The two men had simultaneously helped her financing her fashion project and ultimately helped her for the opening of her infamous store in 21 Rue Cambon in Paris that was baptized at the time: "Chanel Modes".
Thanks to her lovers "la Mademoiselle" as she was frequently called, got highly drawn into the equestrian universe. Indeed, when she lived with Etienne Bastian at the ChĂąteau de Royallieu, she spent a substantial amount of her free time horsebackriding with him in the estate. Her designing inspiration came at first by watching polo tournaments and by observing her boyfriend playing. Her first collections were diametrically opposite with the women fashion trends at the time that were mainly centered around skirts, corsets, and very long dresses. Coco's first designs in opposite, were bold, very boyish and avant-gardiste. Her collection comprises revolutionnary pieces for women in the 1920's : pants and very singular polo attires. She always wanted women to feel comfortable first when they participate in sport activities.
Etienne Bastian madly in love with Gabrielle, supported her throughout the beginning of her ascent. He left her the first floor of his parisian appartment on Boulevard Malesherbes, so she could estalish her very very first unofficial shop. For legal reasons, Chanel was only selling hats that she had personnally manufactured. These hats were also highly inspired with the equestrian helmets.
Everlasting items
The Chanel brand is today a global reference in terms of elegence & luxury. Since the adventure began in 1910, the contemporary creations kept meeting the needs of women by introducing timeless pieces that would last a lifetime in the wardrobe.
"The Boy" is the notorious quilted clutch bag baptized after Arthur "Boy" Capel, the founder lover's name. The bag introduced by Karl Largerfeld the dignified successor de la Mademoiselle's fashion house, is an indispensible leatherwork piece that is still worn by the most influential IT girls of our modern times.
The crossed double C brand has so many iconic items that withstand the test of time. One of them is the perfume Chanel n°5 created in 1921. Gabrielle Chanel intended by creating that new flagrance to encapsulate "un parfum de femme à odeur de femme". Chanel n°5 embodies perfectly how I envision feminity. Marilyn Monroe launched the historical item into another dimension after her famous Life magazine interview in 1952 just with these few words: -"Marilyn, what do you wear to bed? So I said I only wear Chanel N°5". That perfume being associated with the most beautiful and unapologetically sensual woman alive, gave to the parisian house the BEST and free marketing strategy ever thought through. Until today, the emblematic perfume remains a worldwide bestseller.
We have mentioned bags, perfumes, but in terms of accessories one item has as well particularly stood out through time and through collections: the Slingback shoes. During its history, Chanel developed different models of shoes but the Slingback is undoubtedly the one that has won the most favor with the female public. This mythical two-tone shoe was born in 1957. Originally, these shoes were represented in the form of a strappy pump with a 5cm square heel. It has always allowed women complete freedom of movement a main goal of the founder. The famous french IT girls from the 60s Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve obsessed with these classic shoes, adopted them immediately. Over the years, over the decades, and even after Karl Lagerfeld took over, Chanel has not rested at all and kept revisiting the 750$ pair every seasons through different versions, from sandals to derbies and pumps. Having that historical shoes in my wardrobe is actually pretty amazing! I feel like a real Parisian fashionista đ.
We CANNOT evoke la Maison Chanel without talking about its signature centrepiece: the tweed suit. That flawless two-piece set had been introduced in 1925. Inspired at first by sportswear, the iconic tweed fabric used in the detailed crafting of Chanel suits, was initially not considered a glamorous textile (fun fact). Tweed was primarily manufactured in Scottish twill mills, where Chanel had fortunately discovered the true diversity of the fabric. Chanelâs passion for feminizing tweed by implementing new colors, materials, and textures to the then-underappreciated fabric, took the fashion world by storm, and changed forever its historical trajectory. The slim skirt and collarless jacket dubbed âChanelâs uniformâ, became widely known through the media press. The Chanel's uniform became a global sensation, the most influential and fashionable women of the planet such as Jackie Kennedy, and a few years later Princess Diana, swore only by the double C suit.
Herr Lagerfeld
The German-born Karl Lagerfeld was appointed creative director in 1983, few years after Gabrielle Chanel passed away.
Considered as a "near-dead brand", Lagerfeld took a risky bet by endorsing such an important position. The odds were indeed against him at the time but with his artistic ingenuity, he managed to revive the brand and
gave it a true breath of fresh air.
Lagerfeld perfectly assumed the role with respect for the traditions of the parisian house. He kept several classic pieces and maintained the old-fashioned methods used by Chanel herself that were so intrinsic to the brandâs identity. His secret to the brand colossal success, was to align his creative vision with the Chanel founder's goal: propel the brand towards an avant-gardist aesthetic and towards innovative and artistic experiments.
Lagerfeld's vision, was translated into the transformation of the traditional pink pastel suits from the 50s, to a modern dusted off 80ish two-piece set. He contributed a lot into the creation of timeless pieces, while keeping the Chanelâs DNA. Lagerfeld understood the highly-exclusive appeal towards the tweed suited style with its baroque golden buttons, and made its personal mission to rejuvenate the idea of the iconic item. He paid tribute to the Mademoiselle's innovative vision by creating experimental Chanel suits collections from: denim, punk-style tweed, bright neon wool. He even boldly associated the two-piece suit with some Chanel alpine skis.
Lagerfeld was a visionary, the odds initially thrown at him when he started became his STRENGTH. The bet was sucessfully won hands down đđŸ. Thanks to Lagerfeld, la Maison Chanel became THEE most-talked-about brand. The brand was not exclusively associated to eighty years old noble ladies wearing pearl necklaces while walking their cocker spaniel at parc de la Bagatelle anymore, its collections were now also designed for modern, confident, successful, working women who love to be Ă la mode, and au top de la tendance.
"Kaiser Karl" as his fashion peers love to call him, found the perfect communication strategy to modernize the brand for good: Muses. Ines de la Fressanges was the first Chanel Ă©gerie and became a true amabassador for the brand. She has participated to no less than twenty Chanel fashion shows during her career as a model. The 90s supermodels were global fashion superstars at the same scale as Madonna or Prince. Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E was worshipping these 6ft tall Goddesses, with their Barbie doll bodyshape. Karl knew how powerful and influential the "big 6" were and how much spotlight they will bring to his haute-couture house. He immediately partnered with the big names: Claudia, Christy, Naomi, Vanessa Paradis, Linda Evangelista and Carla Bruni. All of them, gracefully represented the emblematic crossed C's collections at every runway and every fashion week in Japan, Milan, London, NYC. Every Chanel collections worn by these divine women, were then photographed and put in every Vogue, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, W cover magazines, and on immense billboards all over the world.
Not a profound fan of the original founder who was VERY controversial, I would be lying though if I do not admit that her creative journey is INCREDIBLY inspiring. She miraculously became that fashion icon, that artistic guide for women for generations and generations. She permanently reshaped the fashion landscape and hugely contributed to her country's renommée mondiale. All of that by herself and also thanks to her two mécÚnes who helped her build the brand up. Chanel became an allegorical symbol, a symbol that automatically brings in mind, an elegant, luxurious, and very-exclusive aesthetic. Paris the most visited capital in the whole world, parallely connotes with the haute-couture maison's symbolism. The prestigious name brought to the capital, millions and millions of tourists accross the world so they can buy iconic items from its historical store opened 103 years ago, at Rue Cambon.
It was suchhh a Honor and such a Pleasure, to write an article about a brand as prestigious as the double C's. I am truely inspired by everything that brand represents.âš