Archive for February, 2009
The Chanel empire
In 1923, she told Harper’s Bazaar that “simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.” Coco Chanel always kept the clothing she designed simple , comfortable and revealing. She took what were considered poor fabrics like jersey and upgraded them. She was instrumental in helping to design the image of the 1920s flapper, a “new breed” of young women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz music, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior. The flappers were seen as brash for wearing excessive makeup, drinking, treating sex in a casual manner, smoking, driving automobiles, and showing a lot of skin.
The iconic Chanel jacket is in many ways a microcosm of this design philosophy. A Chanel couture jacket has numerous design and construction details that distinguish it from a tailored jacket as traditionally constructed. For example, they lack the complex inner structure of interfacings, pad stitching, and facings commonly used in bespoke tailoring. Rather, the silk lining is machine quilted directly to the fashion fabric, the long exterior seams of the fashion fabric are machine sewn, and then the shoulder fashion fabric seams are machine sewn. The interior lining seams and the outside edges of the lining are turned under and hand stitched to the edge of the jacket. The three piece sleeve (another distinctive Chanel feature) is constructed in a similar manner, and then hand sewn to the body of the jacket. The heavy trims, cast metal buttons and the curbed chain sewn to the hem have a functional purpose by adding weight to a garment that is really nothing more than fashion fabric and lining. The end result is a supremely comfortable garment, more like a sweater than a traditional jacket. Most of her fashions had a staying power, and didn’t change much from year to year — or even generation to generation. Karl Lagerfeld has been, since 1983, the art director of Chanel, both for the haute couture and prêt-à-porter.
Chanel came out with her first signature fragrance, Chanel No. 5, in 1921. The perfume was the first to have a designer’s name attached to it, and it has enjoyed tremendous success since its introduction. In this way, Chanel set the standard for successive designers to do the same.
For more info, click here.
A.P.
Her publishing career began in 1936 as columnist for Harper’s Bazaar. Over the next 25 years she worked closely with Louise Dahl-Wolfe and became Fashion Editor for the magazine. She joined Vogue in 1963, where she was editor-in-chief until 1971, when she was fired. During her tenure at the magazine she discovered Edie Sedgwick.
She became consultant to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1971. Artist Greer Lankton created a life size portrait doll of Vreeland that is on display at the museum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Vreeland
A.P.
The magazine LOVE launches in the UK on February 19th, London Fashion Week Eve, and will be handed out throughout the week at all of Mandi Lennard’s shows. Mandi’s the PR guru behind House of Holland, Gareth Pugh, Eley Kishimoto, formerly POP, TopMan and every other thing you want to be part of while in London.
A.P.
ABOUT
RECENT POSTS