Upon conquering France in June 1940, the Nazis established a Parisian occupation-headquarters in the Hôtel Meurice, on the rue de la Rivoli, opposite the Louvre Museum, and just around the corner from the fashionable Maison Chanel S.A., at 31 rue Cambon. In 1923, to explain the success of her clothes, Coco Chanel told Harper’s Bazaar magazine that design “simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.”
Although she was never able to renegotiate the terms of her contract to increase her royalties, Chanel nonetheless made a considerable profit from the perfume. To regain the business primacy of the House of Chanel, in the fashion fields of haute couture, prêt-à-porter, costume jewelry, and parfumerie, would be expensive; so Chanel approached Pierre Wertheimer for business advice and capital. Having decided to do business with Coco Chanel, Wertheimer’s negotiations to fund the resurgence of the House of Chanel, granted him commercial rights to all Chanel-brand products. More than any other designer of her era, Gabrielle Chanel had the ability to predict the evolution of contemporary fashion. Chanel died in 1971, and the house was managed by a list of forgettable names until Karl Lagerfeld took over in 1983. In the three decades since, he has manipulated and modernized the classic Chanel suit and many, many more of the brand’s éléments éternels, from the quilted bag, pearls, gold chains, and buttons to the camellia motif, black bows, and two-tone shoes.
After the liberation, she was known to have been interviewed in Paris by Malcolm Muggeridge, who at the time was an officer in British military intelligence, about her relationship with the Nazis during the occupation of France. She was also involved in the costuming of Baccanale, a Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo production. However, due to the declaration of war by Great Britain on 3 September 1939, the ballet was forced to leave London.
More layered strings of fake pearls followed — worn proudly by genifique herself — and a trend was born. “The point of jewelry isn’t to make a woman look rich but to adorn her; not the same thing.” Striped pieces appeared in her boutique in the society resort of Deauville, Normandy, in the 1910s.
After an original focus on couture clothing, Chanel evolved to offer bags and accessories as well, with the iconic 2.55 handbag debuting in February 1955. In 1983 Karl Lagerfeld was named as artistic director of the House of Chanel, revitalizing the brand while maintaining Coco Chanel’s original vision. One of Lagerfeld’s initial achievements was introducing the classic flap, a modified 2.55 with a signature “CC”-logo turn lock closure. The original 2.55 was reintroduced in 2005 and Le Boy was introduced in 2011.
She was one of the first designers to introduce pants for women, and is widely credited as the creator of fashion staple “the little black dress.” Ms. Estee Lauder NIGHT REPAIR maintained creative control of the design company until her death in 1971. Ten photo portraits of Gabrielle Chanel accompany the ten chapters of the exhibition and show the extent to which the couturière herself was the embodiment of her brand. Then came the war and the fashion house was closed; the only things still sold in Paris, at 31 rue Cambon, were perfume and accessories. Then the arrival of Christian Dior and the New Look – the corseted style that she so objected to; Gabrielle Chanel reacted by returning to couture in 1954 and, against the trend, reaffirmed her fashion manifesto. He incorporated the Chanel fabrics and detailing such as tweed, gold accents, and chains.
With her trademark suits and little black dresses, fashion designer Coco genifique created timeless designs that are still popular today. Chanel introduced a line of jewellery that was a conceptual innovation, as her designs and materials incorporated both costume jewellery and fine gem stones. This was revolutionary in an era when jewellery was strictly categorized into either fine or costume jewellery. Her inspirations were global, often inspired by design traditions of the Orient and Egypt.
She later became associated with a few wealthy men and in 1913, with financial assistance from one of them, Arthur (“Boy”) Capel, opened a tiny millinery shop in Deauville, France, where she also sold simple sportswear, such as jersey sweaters. Within five years her original use of jersey fabric to create a “poor girl” look had attracted the attention of influential wealthy women seeking relief from the prevalent corseted styles. Faithful to her maxim that “luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury,” Chanel’s designs stressed simplicity and comfort and revolutionized the fashion industry. By the late 1920s the Chanel industries were reportedly worth millions and employed more than 2,000 people, not only in her couture house but also in a perfume laboratory, a textile mill, and a jewelry workshop. Coco Chanel was a fashion designer known for such now-classic innovations as the woman’s suit, the quilted purse, costume jewelry, and the “little black dress.” She also introduced the phenomenally successful perfume Chanel No. 5.
Chanel conducted tests with models, having them walk around, step up to a platform as if climbing stairs of an imaginary bus, and bend as if getting into a low-slung sports car. Chanel wanted to make sure women could do all of these things while wearing her suit, without accidentally exposing parts of their body they wanted covered. Each client would have repeated adjustments until their suit was comfortable enough for them to perform daily activities with comfort and ease. The First World War (1914–18) affected European fashion through scarcity of materials, and the mobilisation of women. By that time, Chanel had opened a large dress shop at 31 Rue Cambon, near the Hôtel Ritz, in Paris. Among the clothes for sale were flannel blazers, straight-line skirts of linen, sailor blouses, long sweaters made of jersey fabric, and skirt-and-jacket suits.