Chanel

I've been studying the rare gem that is Coco Chanel. Much has been written about this dynamic woman, and her life story is one that is probably best told through her own work as it was her own style that brought her her initial acclaim. Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was a force who drew inspiration from both her triumphs and tragedies. Raised by nuns after being "given up" by a flighty father, her simple aesthetic was her greatest asset in an increasingly chaotic world. Coco Chanel brought order to her life and allowed herself to be her own constant. Her string of lovers was as numerous as the string of pearls that she allowed herself as decoration; contrasted to the more simple shape of her creations. Her attitude and foibles rightly peg Chanel somewhere within the fray of the ideals of feminism. Without pre-conception, she lived the feminist's dream in the early 1920's and on.

Chanel's concept of self can best be juxtaposed against the typical role of women of her day. A woman in Chanel's circle from poor means, at best was an expensive courtesan, a thing to be prettied up, showed off in certain circles and relations conducted with behind private screens. Chanel brought an up front attitude to her patrons through her dresses that dared the beholder to question the norms. Luxury was not ostentation for the Mademoiselle, it was quality fit with comfortable fabrics for the right price. It was her use of men's under garment fabrics for her dresses, the jersey knit she popularized as outer garb that gave women movement back. Quoted as asking how a woman could think under the fruit laden, highly-plummaged and laced hat creations that was the style du jour, Coco gave herself to her vanities and did away with the superfluous part of dressing ones-self, not too soon either since war, global depression and the roaring 20's ushered in profound social change.

Brought up as a ward of the state but with well-off family meant both exposure to a more peasant upbringing and the seductive and tantalizing flash of high society. Chanel's experience left her pride her only ally, and it was this attitude that won over her lovers and her critics. Upon establishing herself in Paris, her millinery creations and her scandalous affairs brought the eagled-eyed focus of Paris high-society in the 20's, squarely onto her boyish shoulders. She raised hemlines, did away with the maddening need for a corset, and flouted the boys club attitude in the faces of the men she surrounded herself with. Chanel counted only one female confidante in her life, Misia Sert fulfilled that role; the better part of Chanel's life though dealt with men, and her designs show her peculiar preoccupation with a youthful look merged with the empowering feeling of androgyny, a feeling that often improved the wearer's image of themself. What is feminism after all other than feeling empowered simply by one's own self; for Chanel it was enough to be the best version of yourself and she fostered that contemporary thought through her subsequent lines.

Simultaneously self-made, hers was the first fashion house created and run by a woman. Her designs were simple but refined, a woman could move, could breathe in a dress by Coco. As her popularity among first the art scene and then increasingly ladies' journals and society pages grew, so it lead to her expanding her vision to not just other locales but other directions. Her Chanel No. 5, enticed noses around the world and her business savvy lead her to skillfully market her scent as a part of her brand, a move no contemporary designer does without these days. Chanel truly created an empire, and spread her vision not once but twice, saving women from the hoops, loops and wrangling that characterized the newly anointed God of fashion, Christian Dior's new line of ample skirted luxurious design pieces in the 1950's. Chanel was her own hero, leaving her tragic relations with men to be analyzed not as her downfall but as her triumph despite. Society dictated certain norms and Chanel instead laughed her perfume scented, be-pearled way to the bank.

References-

Chanel Her Style and Her Life- Janet Wallach. Doubleday, New York 1942

Chanel Key Collections- Melissa Richards. Welcome Rain Publishers, London 2000

Chanel-Jean Leymarie. Rizzoli International Publications, Switzerland 1987