When I saw this garment from the Comme des Garcon Spring Summer 2024 collection,
'2Women'
Coco Chanel and Rei Kawakubo were each placed under such a titular concept, at the multivenue Fashion2001 Landed fashion festival, which involved a range of exhibitions and events in Antwerp.
My rendition of '2Women'.
The essence of each one is found there, in cross stitch, and lots of DMC 301!
Coco Chanel disregarded some of the rules.
Rei Kawakubo definitely disregarded the rules.
Coco Chanel played with gender, used items from male attire and adapted them to a female silhouette.
Rei Kawakubo often plays and mixes with gender traditions.
Coco Chanel said "I built my fortune on an old jersey."
Chanel became known for simple lines, soft tailoring and touches of romantic embellishment.
Kawakubo started off working with loose-fitting, abstract shapes and asymmetric hemlines in roughly textured fabrics.
Chanel liked a predominantly black, white and beige colour palette, which is said to have come out of her past.
Kawakubo's colour palette throughout the 80s was white, gray, and black, a lot of black, plus beige and navy.
Gabrielle Chanel was born into poor circumstances in August of 1883. At the age of 11, when her mother died, Gabrielle was sent, along with her sisters, to the Cistercian convent of Aubazine. It was the beginning of her future career, as it was here that Chanel was taught to sew.
Chanel's creative mind absorbed the whole experience. The black and white of the nun's habits, the white bed sheets, the white petticoats, and the beige of the natural stone walls.
And when the time came, Chanel delivered these creative memories as she saw fit, like one does.
In the Chanel Spring Summer 2020 Haute Couture collection, Creative Director Virginie Viard, went back to Chanel's origin. The Grand Palais was turned into a replica of the convent school at Cistercian Abbey of Aubazine. Viard presented beautiful and subtle hints of the convent, the girl's uniforms and the nuns habits.
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Godfrey Deeny presents a good account of the collection via this link.
Chanel was very good at taking items from the working class and making them chic. Pocketed jackets of the working man, and black and white uniforms of the housemaid servants.
My summer top inspiration
It explored the meeting of their creative minds, and demonstrated how their work influenced each other.
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He even writes, "..black habits of the nuns were the basis of the origin of Chanel's...little black dress."
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| 1926 Vogue illustration of Chanel's LBD |
That black, white and beige palette is still to be seen in these ensembles from the Chanel Spring/ Summer 2017 collection, delivered with an interesting techno presentation.
Chanel was very good at taking items from the working class and making them chic. Pocketed jackets of the working man, and black and white uniforms of the housemaid servants.
In 1925 she designed her logo.
Two black interlaced C's that mirror each other representing her name.
There are a number of stories as to its' origin.
One, that it was inspired by the the interlaced curves in the stained glass windows of the Aubazine chapel convent orphanage where Chanel grew up.
Another, it was a merging of the initials of her name and that of Arthur Capel 'Boy', who was a deep love of her life and the founding business partner, as he financed her first shop. (He was killed in a car accident in December, 1919.)
So, who knows. I think it's all about seeing something and thinking, "Now there's an idea!"
A garment from the CdG SS 2014 collection, sort of interlocking C's.
Chanel rubbed shoulders with many of the up and coming artists of the early 20th century, Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Diaghilev.
She first met Picasso in 1917, which proved to be her entry into the artistic world of Paris. They worked together on Antigone, Cocteau's 1922 adaptation of Sophocle's play. Picasso created the sets and masks. Chanel designed the costumes.
In 1924, they worked together on Diaghilev's Ballet Russes, "Le Train Bleu".
During October 2022 - January 2023, a Picasso/Channel exhibition was curated in Spain.
In such exhibitions, I always enjoy seeing what art work is combined with what garment.
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This is an informative link to the exhibition. It presents a good video and a number of images. https://www.museothyssen.org/en/exhibitions/picasso-chanel
Chanel's relationship with the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky was a brief one. Married with 4 children in tow, Stravinsky found himself and family stranded in France, unable to return to his homeland due to WWI and the 1917 Russian revolution.
In 1921 Coco Chanel invited them to live in her villa, Bel Respiro in Garches, until they found their own residence.
Inevitably they had a short and, by all accounts, relatively uneventful affair.
The 2010 film, 'Coco and Igor' reflects upon the affair.
One review I read, described the film as, "..souless romance that lacks intensity and passion."
Here's the trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax58yPFj0ac
There's lots of black and white, in both the clothing and the house interiors.
In 1928 Chanel has her La Pausa villa built at Roquebrune-Cap-Matin in the South of France.
It has an interesting history.
Chanel designed it on the 12th century convent-orphanage in Aubazine, where she spent those formative years.
A stone staircase led up from the main entrance hall and a cloister enclosed courtyard. Apparently the colour scheme was beige, even the piano was beige!
La Pausa was sold to Emery and Wendy Reves in the early 1950s, and many of Coco Chanel's objects were left behind with the sale, which brings us to the Dallas Museum, where "The Reves Collection' is housed in a partial re-creation of La Pausa, built in 1985.
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| The reconstructed entrance hall |
For more information, if interested, and photos of La Pausa, both in Chanel's time and in the Reves' time. https://blog.dma.org/tag/coco-chanel/
There is such a story that goes with it.
(I will come back to Dallas.)
At the time that Coco Chanel was moving in the Paris artistic scene, American writer, Gertrude Stein, was establishing herself in a similar scene.
Described as a "visionary woman of letters", she took part in the creative and avant-garde circle of the early 20th century.
Stein befriended Picasso, Matisse, Jean Cocteau, James Joyce, Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, welcoming them into her salon soirées, but not Coco Chanel. Not literary enough me thinks, however, each woman, in her own way was a part of a Paris celebrated for its freedom and the garconne.
The Garconne takes its name from the 1922 novel by Victor Margueritte.
The term described a sexually liberated young woman who lived her life freely. Garconne style was defined by loose freedom-giving clothing, which were the Coco Chanel designs of the time, down to a tee.
Stein commissioned Picasso to paint her portrait.
Let Stein reveal it in this great 1979 one-woman show, 'Gerty Gerty Gerty Stein is Back Back Back'
This critique of the painting is also worth viewing.
Sylvia Beach was another American in Paris. She opened the bookshop, 'Shakespeare and Company', which became a social, literary and financial hub for writers in Paris during the 1920s. Shakespeare and Company was the first publisher of James Joyce's Ulysses in 1922.
In 1932 Gertrude Stein wrote 'The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas'. It takes the form of an autobiography written by Alice B. Toklas, Stein's life partner. They met the day Toklas arrived in Paris, and remained together for 39 years, until Stein's death in 1946.
This is my favourite version.
Illustrated by designer extraordinaire, Maira Kalman. I love her work.
This site provides excellent information about the book.
Maira Kalman made a video, 'My Name is Alice B. Toklas'.
It is absolutely delightful. View it on this site. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP8dnCJ_LIA
Toklas did actually write a book, 'The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook'. It was published in 1954, and was written in a style similar to Stein's "Autobiography".
I like this image, as it brings me back to that aspect of Chanel taking the black and white housemaid uniform and making it chic.
And in this 1920 photo, with James Joyce and Adrienne Monnier, Sylvia Beach appears to present that Chanel look.
(I really don't know if she is wearing Chanel or not, just looks that way)
Here's a Comme des Garcons Girl dress with a similar evocation. (I'm thinking it is Spring 2017 collection time.)
I came across this book, 'Women-Left Bank-Paris 1900 -1940'. Sylvia Beach is there in the first image, Gertrude and Alice are in the last image.
https://www.etsy.com/in-en/listing/1394001264/women-left-bank-paris-1900-1940-margaret
At the beginning of WW2 Chanel closed her fashion house. She said, "It was not the time for business." and in 1945, went to live in Switzerland.
In 1954 she revived her couture house with a new collection. The American and some of the British fashion press saw it as a breakthrough, but not the French. The iconic Chanel tweed 2-or-3-piece suit came out of this revival. It became known as the defining garment of her post-war legacy.
Introduced in the 1920s, it was in 1956 that it came to incorporate the gilt buttons and braiding. Its' soft and untailored cut exemplified her design concept for ease and comfort.
https://classicchicagomagazine.com/her-rentry/
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Lagerfeld revisited and reinterpreted Chanel's iconic garments. He made Chanel "today", replacing the square fit with a more skinny silhouette in innovative colours and textures..png)
I did not know Karl Lagerfeld was also a film director. He made a number of films that were about bringing Chanel's heritage to life. I think his choice of Geraldine Chaplin as Coco Chanel is spot on.
and, 'Once and Forever', (not quite so good)made in 2015 and about 12 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O2gmRPj-UI&list=PLSfej7YnDEH4pR_uOGykx7uFvtRzPTaQz&index=3
Many of the rich and famous women of America became ardent fans of the Chanel suit, which brings me back to Dallas.
Jackie Kennedy was wearing a pink Chanel suit on the 22 November, 1963, the day her husband was assassinated in downtown Dallas.
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An interesting account of Jackie's pink suit from Wikipedia.
When Jacqueline Kennedy finally removed her suit the following morning, her maid folded it and placed it in a box. Some days after the assassination, this box was dispatched to Kennedy's mother, Janet Lee Auchincloss, who wrote "November 22nd 1963" on the top of the box and stored it in her attic.[6] Eventually, the box was given to the National Archives in Maryland, together with an unsigned note bearing the Auchincloss letterhead stationery. The note read: "Jackie's suit and bag worn Nov. 22, 1963".[12] The suit, which was never cleaned,[6] is kept out of public view in "an acid-free container in a windowless room ... the precise location is kept secret. The temperature hovers between 65 and 68 °F (18 and 20 °C); the humidity is 40 percent; the air is changed six times an hour."
Coco Chanel died on the 10th January, 1971. The same year that Japan was becoming a new hub of fashion. In 1969, Rei Kawakubo had introduced a Comme des Garcons women's wear collection. In 1973 she founded Comme des Garcons Co. Ltd in Tokyo. In 1975 the first Comme des Garcons collection was presented in Tokyo. In 1978 Comme des Garcons Homme (menswear) was introduced. And, in 1981, the first CdG women's collection was presented at the Intercontinental Hotel, Paris, the A/W 1981-82 collection.
In 1983 Karl Lagerfeld joined Chanel as the Creative Director, and remained so until his death in 2019.
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In a 2007 documentary Lagerfeld said, "When I took on Chanel, it was a sleeping beauty. Not even a beautiful one. She snored, so I was to revive a dead woman." (Not sure about this analogy, Karl. I'll take a bet even a beautiful woman will snore, and break wind!)
This is a good video explaining how Lagerfeld and Viard took on the House of Chanel https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Xln-c80bA0k
And this video is a great demonstration of the work involved in the construction of a Haute Couture Chanel jacket, when KL was at the helm. The hours of work that go into it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19W7fvOBG0c&t=20s
'The Return', made in 2013, and about 30 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pn7FS-jXJA
From February 2023 until March 2024, the 'Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto' exhibition was held at the Victoria & Albert Museum. It was the first UK exhibition dedicated to Chanel. You can read all about it on their website. https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/gabrielle-chanel-fashion-manifesto
This is an interesting video from the exhibition, presented by a very knowledgeable seamstress, who discusses how this haute couture Chanel suit, made for Lauren Bacall, was constructed.
Did you know there is a Coco Chanel ballet?!
https://pointemagazine.com/coco-chanel-atlanta-ballet/
And, my last video.
Nicole Rudolph presents an interesting and well researched account of Chanel's fashion design history. She touches on the Nazi connection, and other social/labour aspects which I have not, but it's all worth knowing, and relates to the use of the word 'antihero' in the previous ballet article.
SLTSLTBsigning off.
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