Coco Chanel is a great trendsetter, whose name is familiar to every woman, regardless of age or place of residence. She is a symbol of an era in the fashion industry. It was with her light hand that women began to wear trousers and vests. She throughout her life carried the idea of not only the appearance of women, but also proposed to combat gender inequality. Madame Chanel has always sought independence from men and urged all women in the world to reconsider outdated, as it seemed to her, views.
You can endlessly enumerate Coco’s contribution to the life of that time, her successes and recognition, but for many, she will be remembered as a designer who discovered the black little Chanel dress to the world. And we devote today's article to this particular wardrobe item - dresses in the Chanel style.
Madame Chanel's biography
All those who are at least a little interested in fashion are probably aware that Coco is just a designer's pseudonym. Her real name is Gabriel Boner Chanel. She was born in a poor family in the small French town of Saumur. When little Gabrielle was about six years old, her mother died. And a little later the father left the family.
Since then, she and her brothers and sisters have lived with distant relatives, now in shelters. Growing up, interrupted by various earnings, one of which was a restaurant where she performed her famous song "Ko-ko-ri-ko". Since then, Coco’s nickname has been attached to her.
A little later, she met a rich man and, becoming his mistress, moved to his huge estate in Paris. The capital attracted her, she dreamed about this city of great opportunities. And she quickly realized that in order to stay in Paris, she would have to work hard. Living on the estate of her influential lover, she saw how women are ready for anything for men, how they bow before them, as if before the gods. Then she decided at all costs to change her life.
She began her design career with making hats for rich ladies. Surprisingly, they enjoyed simply wild success. Just like everything that Coco sewed. In her works, she adhered to the rule of "convenience and elegance", which was so lacking for women of the beginning of the 20th century.
After such creativity, Chanel already had a certain idea of what she wanted to do in life. She dreamed of becoming a clothing designer and opening her own store. Therefore, having started a new relationship with another influential businessman named Arthur, she opened her first fashion house with his help. Since then, the name Coco Chanel has gradually been recognized by the whole world
Little black dress
An interesting fact is that Chanel created an essentially iconic wardrobe item, a little black dress, quite by accident. And the reason for its creation was the tragically terrible accident, which in 1962 claimed the life of her beloved man. And for the publication in connection with this mourning event, a small black dress was hastily sewn by her.
Surprisingly, Vogue magazine, having published a photo of Chanel in her mourning dress, can be said to have turned the fashion industry of that time upside down. Now all fashionistas dreamed of the same dress, and those who could not afford such an expensive pleasure sewed a Chanel dress on their own.
It is interesting that for many years eminent designers and people interested in fashion tried to unravel the secret of the unprecedented success of a small black dress. And no one was able to explain this phenomenon. Apparently, he was not, and is not. And the essence of such popularity is that simplicity and conciseness without a heap of unnecessary distracting accessories in combination with black are exactly what any woman can afford. This is exactly what is appropriate in the morning, afternoon and evening. With any complexion, with any growth, with any shade of skin and hair, it is perfect!
Since the creation of this masterpiece, little has changed. It still remains one of the basic items of clothing that, according to most designers, every woman should have.
How has the little black dress changed after Chanel?
Of course, fashion does not stand still, but a classic black dress from Chanel is an undying cult. Despite all this, the designers of the Chanel house offer other variations and changed styles of the dress.
For example, Coco Chanel has always said that women's knees are exactly what you need to hide. That is why all her dresses were distinguished by a special length covering this part of the body. But time passed, and the current director of the Chanel house, Karl Lagerfeld, decided that there was no need to hide his knees. After all, if a woman’s legs are beautiful, there is no need to hide them behind excess pieces of matter. So the world appeared new models of the usual little black dress.
Also, the designers considered it important to lightly decorate and bring a little new to the familiar look, adding beautiful lace, embroidery, pearls, beads and sequins to the dress.
However, despite all the transformations, the main idea of the Chanel house is still simplicity and elegance. This is what the emphasis is on when creating new collections.
Chanel color palette
And although Coco Chanel herself said that "the color that suits you" is fashionable, she adhered to a certain color policy. When creating Chanel masterpieces, the most frequent colors are white, black, gray, red, blue, ivory, burgundy and powder.
Such a palette is good in that in any combination, these shades are great for each other. By the way, it should be noted that the great founder of fashion did not at all consider black as negative. On the contrary, Chanel considered him the most perfect of all colors, the most finished and elegant.
Long Dresses
Unusually beautiful woman, dressed in a long dress. This is a fact that is difficult to argue with. Fashion house Chanel believes the same, and therefore does not cease to create more and more images in which a woman would feel luxurious.
Basically, as mentioned above, in the Chanel collections, a calm color scheme prevails. A distinctive feature of Coco Chanel dresses is decorative jewelry for clothes: iridescent rhinestones, fluffy feathers and the finest lace. For example, in the recent spring-summer 2018 collection, executed in a milky-gold palette, ancient Greek motifs are clearly traced.
The outfits are decorated exquisitely and richly: fringe, embroidery and gold coins. Dresses from the new collection look very feminine and noble.
White collars
Another recognizable style of the little Chanel dress is a white collar. It would seem how a white, rude and as if cut off attribute of a man’s shirt can harmoniously fit into a female image? Maybe even like that! This is what Chanel proved by creating yet another perpetual fashion trend. The combination of a simple and concise black dress, complemented by a white collar, is an unchanging classic, to which fashion designers return again and again. In the photo, Coco Chanel dress from the spring-summer 2018 collection.
Lace
The ingenious fashion designer believed that lace and tulle are excellent materials for creating evening options for dresses. Therefore, in 1932, she released a collection where both of these materials were in full decoration of the dresses she created. The latest collections were no exception, you can often see translucent lace studded with sequins or stuffed with plain embroidery.
Everyday Dresses
As for daily images or images for every day, here the Chanel fashion house focuses on simplicity and convenience, combined with beauty and femininity. For example, a tweed dress just above the knee is quite popular.
As you know, Madame Chanel herself adored tweed fabric, which until then was considered only rude male material. The founder of fashion, as always, destroyed this stereotype and created yet another style element of any fashionista - a tweed suit.
Its classic version involves a straight skirt above the knee and a shortened jacket. The Chanel jacket looks great in combination with a plain sheath dress. This option will be relevant both in the office and on a walk after work. In the photo, a Chanel-style dress, suitable for daily wear.
Wedding Dresses
Another innovation in the world of fashion from Coco Chanel can be considered shortened wedding dresses. It was she who introduced them into fashion, proving to everyone that a wedding dress can and should be comfortable without losing its beauty. Today, the famous fashion house offers a wide variety of styles of wedding dresses that will appeal to any bride. In the photo, Chanel dress from the wedding collection.
Summing up, we can confidently say that the number of wardrobe items that this fragile woman has brought into fashion is, perhaps, incomparable. And if to this day her fashion house is so wildly popular and is the object of passion of millions of fashionistas, then she lived her life for good reason.