the little black dress Coco Chanel September 27 –January 4, 2015 The Metropolian Museum of Art 1000 Fifth Ave. NY
Coco Chanel “In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.�
THE LITTLE BLACK DRESS The most influential fashion designer of all time, Coco Chanel revolutionised the way women wore clothes and paved a new way afor the fashion brand, capitalising on the changing times she was living in and her status as a fashion icon.
19 August, 1883 – 10 January, 1971
Gabrielle Fashion Pioneer Opening her first shop on Paris’s Rue Cambon in 1910, Chanel started out selling hats. She later added stores in Deauville and Biarritz and began making clothes. Her first taste of clothing success came from a dress she fashioned out of an old jersey on a chilly day. In response to the many people who asked about where she go the dress, she offered to make on for them. “My fortune is built on that old jersey that I’d put on because it was cold in Deauville,” she once told author Paul Morand.
Early Life Famed fashion designer Coco Chanel was born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel on August 19, 1883, in Saumur, France. With her trademark suits and little black dress, Coco Chanel created timeless designs that are still popular today. She became a much revered style icon known for her simple yet sophisticated outfits paired with great accessories, such as several strands of pearls. As Chanel once said, “luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury.”
In the 1920s, Chanel took her thriving business to new heights. She launched her first perfume, Chanel No. 5, which was the first to feature a designer’s name. Perfume “is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate accessory of fashion... that heralds your arrival and prolongs your departure,” Chanel once explained. In 1925, she introduced the now legendary Chanel suit with collarless jacket and well-fitted skirt. Her designs were revolutionary for the time—borrowing elements of men’s wear and emphasizing comfort over the constraints of then-popular fashions. She helped women say good-bye to the days of corsets and other confining garments. Another 1920s revolutionary design was Chanel’s little black dress. She took a color once associated with mourning and showed just how chic it could be for evening-wear. In addition to fashion, Chanel was popular figure in the Paris literary and artistic worlds. She designed costumes for the Balleets Russes and for Jean Cocteau’s play Orphée, and counted Cocteau and artist Pablo Picasso among her friends.
CHANEL
Bonheur
Legacy
Coco Chanel died on January 10, 1971, at her apartment in the Hotel Ritz. She never married, having once said “I never wanted to weigh more heavily on a man than a bird.” Hundreds crowded together at the Church of the Madeleine to bid farewell to the fashion icon. In tribute, many of the mourners wore Chanel suits. A little more than a decade after her death, designer Karl Lagerfeld took the reins at her company to continue the Chanel legacy. Today her namesake company is held privately by the Wertheimer family and continues to thrive, believed to generate hundreds of millions in sales each year. The only fashion designer listed on Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Along with Paul Poiret, Chanel was credited with liberating women from the constraints of the “corseted silhouette” and popularizing the acceptance of a sportive, casual chic as the feminine standard in the post World War I era. A prolific fashion creator, Chanel’s influence extended beyond couture clothing. Her design aesthetic was realized in jewelry, handbags, and fragrance. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5, has become an iconic product. Chanel was known for her lifelong determination, ambition, and energy which she applied to her professional and social life. She achieved both success as a businesswoman and social prominence thanks to the connections she made through her work. These included many artists and craftspeople to whom she became a patron.
CHANEL MODES
BIRTH Gabrielle Chanel is born in Saumur (France), on August 19th 1883, under the sign of Leo, to parents of a modest background.
Gabrielle Chanel opens her ffirst shop at 21 rue Cambon in Paris, creating hats under the name “Chanel Modes”. Her simple, elegant style of dress creates a sensation, and is soon imitated by all of Paris.
THE LITTLE BLACK DRESS Coco introduced the little black dress, which is called by Vogue the “Ford of Dresses”.
CHANEL NO. 5 Fragrance Chanel No. 5 becomes the world’s best selling perfume.
G.I.’S LOVE CHANEL World War II breaks out, compelling closures at the House of Chanel. Among the five Boutiques on rue Cambon, only one remains open: the store at number 31, where perfumes and accessories continue to be high demand among Parisians and American soldiers alike.
LIVE ON LEGACY Neiman Marcus names Chanel the most influential designer of the 20th century.
A little more than a decade after her death, designer Karl Lagerfeld took the reins at her company to continue the Chanel legacy.
It’s hard to imagine a world without black as a foolproof outffit color choice, but before Chanel, the color was reserved for funerals and widows in mourning. The fashionable reds, green and electric blues that her peers dressed in made the designer “feel ill”. “These colors are impossible,” she declared.
“These women, I’m bloody well going to dress them in black!” In 1926, Vogue published a sketch of her calf-length simple black sheath and labeled it a frock that all the world would wear.” A wardrobe staple was born.