Allure, Chanel

Audrey Tautou, the famous Amelie out of the movie is now playing the young Gabrielle Chanel, known in the whole world as Coco Chanel. As France celebrates one of her most famous Fashion designer, there goes the story...

The making of Coco into Chanel started after the 2nd World War. Men were sent far away from their homes, which forced women to replace them in factories, offices and hospitals. It also forced them to wear practical clothes rather than ornamental ones.
Chanel, at her 31 Rue Cambon Atelier and Boutique in Paris, dressed all women arriving in the French capital, from women wanting a simple but chic silhouette, to women into sports looking for a swimming costume. Her goal wasn't only to "sculpt" women, or make them wear their lovers' ties or lavallieres, it was to make them walk with their head high, to give them autonomy and pride by wearing her clothes.
Before the war, women were men's mounts, his favourite conquest, but Chanel gave women a reason to parade and men had to see if they had the strength and courage to follow this new type of woman or not and thererefore be forced to only admire her as she passed by on the street.

Style, but also simplicity and rigour: Chanel was brought up in a strict and loveless environment which consequently made her love clothes with monastic cuts, dark colours such as brown, beige and charcoal, that reminded her of nature. The famous LBD she created in 1926 was a simple sheath dress that was made of Chinese veil. It hid women's chests, hips and thighs and was therefore practical at any occasion. It was therefore compared to the Ford: both could go anywhere!

Chanel wanted to see her clothes worn on the street, running and hopping on buses, not only parading in town houses of the 16th borough of Paris. Her 15 of inactivity because of the war (and her supposed relationship with a nazi officer) didn't change anything or alter her success. Free women, strong, autonomous and impatient to play a role in the 50s, 60s and later on came to buy clothes at the Chanel Boutique. From Jersey to Tweed, she didn't only luxurious makes but her creations werestill excellent. Chanel was very proud of making these materials fashionable and as time went by she rejected the ephemeral side of fashion.

Nothing was spontaneous in the clothes she made, it could take days or even weeks for her to make the woman's suit she had in mind. All this "building" was a second nature, just as her suit was a second skin.
Even when the miniskirt and 68 made Chanel a part of the past, the 80s, with their love of sequin and brands brought her back to the limielight. Just not right in time. YSL did his best to honour her and keep the spirit of her house alive after her death in 1971. Chanel's hardness and stringency were part of a different era and bling-bling would have driven her crazy. Still, nowadays, it is precisely this kind of sobriety that could come back on the fashion scene (thank you economic crisis). Rather than have numerous disposable outfits, we will all call for modernity less perishable, an outfit that can survive season after season. A new Chanel could impose itself in the name of authenticity and rigour.