With these historic peers, she shared a desire to break the pre-conceived moulds of the time and constantly strived to create new ways of expressing herself through inspirational fashion designs. The advent of the First World War brought with it economic change that affected European fashion as much as any other industry. With men enlisting, it fell to women to work in factories and take up the jobs left vacant. Clothes now had to be practical and allow women the physical freedom required to do their new line of work.
Her designs, some of which were derived from military uniforms, became the most famous and sought after throughout France. There were flannel blazers, straight-line skirts made of linen and jersey fabric, skirt-and-jacket suits, turtlenecks and pullover sweaters. She also frequently used masculine colours such as grey and navy blue to accentuate the boldness of her garments character, even introducing trousers for women — considered a very bold move at the time, and one which signalled the true end to the Belle Epoque era of French fashion.
By the start of the s, almost all garments made by the House of Chanel featured quilted fabric and leather finishing. The quilted construction was used to reinforce the fabric, design and ultimately the finish, producing a stylish item of clothing that maintained its form and function whilst being worn. The most notable example of these haute couture techniques being used is in the iconic Chanel Suit; a knee-length skirt and cardigan-style jacket, trimmed and decorated with black embroidery and gold-coloured buttons.
Composed of two or three pieces, its practicality allowed for a modern, feminine appearance whilst being comfortable. Just over ten years later in , Coco introduced her first signature cardigan jacket, followed by the famous Little Black Dress in Using traditionally elegant materials such as lace and soft weightless silk, the little black dress made women wearing anything else feel unsuitably overdressed.
Coco originally commissioned the perfumer Earnest Baux to create a scent that would complement her suits, with the initial intention to give this beautiful Art Deco bottled fragrance away with each suit. Such was the runaway success of Chanel No. He removed the perfume from drug store shelves in an effort to create a greater sense of scarcity and exclusivity.
As the number of U. His efforts increased profits. In , Alain Wertheimer stepped up efforts in Chanel's U. Attempts to parlay the Chanel fashion division into a profit center and promotional device for Chanel's fragrances succeeded. Chanel opened up more than 40 Chanel boutiques worldwide.
Importantly, Alain Wertheimer refused to relinquish control of anything related to the family's Chanel operations. In fact, Chanel remains one of few companies in the cosmetic and apparel industry that does not license its fragrances, cosmetics, or apparel to other producers or distributors.
Part of Chanel's success during the s and throughout the s for that matter was its adherence to a conservative, proven image. Chanel designers and marketers were extremely careful to not tamper with the Chanel legend. While other perfumes had changed to follow short term trends, the Chanel fragrance remained classic and unchanged.
Even the Chanel No. With Chanel, people know what to expect. And they keep coming back to us, at all ages, as they enter and leave the market. As a result of Alain Wertheimer's efforts during the s and early s, the Chanel's performance improved significantly. Going into the s, in fact, Chanel was considered a global leader in the fragrance industry and a top innovator in fragrance advertising and marketing. Chanel continued to spend more on advertising than almost any other perfume company and, as a result, was reaping the fattest profit margins in the industry.
The Wertheimers would have been wealthy without their Chanel business. However, Chanel's success in the s was credited with boosting the Wertheimer family's wealth to a new level. Alain Wertheimer moved his offices to New York in the late s, reflecting Chanel's emphasis on the U. Although sales of high-end goods were hurt by the global recession of the early s, demand began recovering in the mid s and Chanel continued to expand its boutique chain and product line.
Toggle navigation. User Contributions:. Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: Name:. E-mail: Show my email publicly. Human Verification:. Public Comment: characters. Send comment. Other articles you might like:. Originally, a bottle of No. The popularity of the perfume prompted the House of Chanel to offer it for retail sale in The success of the No.
Nonetheless, despite the success of the Chanel couture and parfumerie , the personal relations between Coco and her capitalist partner deteriorated, because, Coco said that Pierre Wertheimer was exploiting her talents as a fashion designer and as a businesswoman.
From the gamine fashions of the s, Coco Chanel had progressed to womanly fashions in the s: evening-dress designs were characterised by an elongated feminine style, and summer dresses featured contrasts such as silver eyelets, and shoulder straps decorated with rhinestones — drawing from Renaissance-time fashion stylings. In , Chanel presented an exhibition of jewelry dedicated to the diamond as fashion accessory; it featured the Comet and Fountain necklaces of diamonds, which were of such original design, that Chanel S.
Among fashion designers only the clothes created by Elsa Schiaparelli could compete with the clothes of Chanel. Later, in , Coco Chanel attempted to assume business control of Parfums Chanel, but was thwarted by an administrativedelegation that disallowed her sole disposition of the parfumerie. In turn, Wertheimer, the majority capital stock owner of Parfums Chanel, saw his business interests threatened, and his commercial rights infringed, because he did not possess legally exclusive rights to the Chanel name.
Nonetheless, Wertheimer avoided a trademark infringement lawsuitagainst Coco Chanel, lest it damage the commercial reputation and the artistic credibility of his Chanel-brand parfumerie. As a post—War fashion that used some 20 yards of fabric, the House of Dior couture renounced wartime rationing of fabric for clothes. In — after the six-year austerities of the Second World War —45 — the New Look was welcomed by the fashion business of Western Europe, because sales of the pretty clothes would revive business and the economy.
In , Chanel collaborated with jeweler Robert Goossens; he was to design jewelry bijouterie and gemstone to complement the fashions of the House of Chanel; notably, long-strand necklaces of black pearls and of white pearls, which high contrast softened the severe design of the knitted-wool Chanel Suit skirt and cardigan jacket. The House of Chanel also presented leather handbags with either gold-colour chains or metal-and-leather chains, which allowed carrying the handbag from the shoulder or in hand.
The quilted-leather handbag was presented to the public in February He rushed to Coco, expecting congratulations and praise. But she refused to kiss him. She resented him, you see, all her life. Coco Chanel died on 10 January , at the age of She was still designing at the time of her death.
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