COUTURE
COUTURE
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THE MYSTIQUE OF MADEMOISELLE COCO CHANEL.
This is a topic that I have deliberately avoided in years and that is ‘fashion.’ Least I can say is that I was an avid follower of the fashion scene during the 90s, before the crossover of models to Bollywood began. It was an era when fashion icons were models and not movie actors or cricketers. Today, it’s literally the other way around. And the reason why I took to my dashboard to write about fashion is when I saw a documentary about the high priestess of early couture in Paris, a well-known perfume brand and a symbol of everything de la luxe – Chanel. The mastermind behind it all is none other than Gabrielle Chanel herself. To me her entire business story is a sheer revelation.
Gabrielle Chanel on the streets of Paris, 1962.
Why haven’t I heard about the real Chanel before? Anyone publicly hardly speaks about her life during the war? No information in the fashion business runs her story of how she started the brand and reinvented it. Because, when it comes to fashion, it’s always the gossip that is of utmost importance. Or maybe whatever Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel did, was not supposed to be spoken aloud at the time. Neither has her true story come in the forefront because of the many people that were a part of this billion-dollar business that continue to have secret holdings in the company even today.
“If you want to be original, be ready to be copied,” answered Chanel when the American media asked her thoughts on how she felt when her designs were being copied.
“If you want to be original, be ready to be copied,” answered Chanel when the American media asked her thoughts on how she felt when her designs were being copied.
She would charm influential men, deal with Jewish businessmen and befriend soldiers during World War II. This helped her to keep moving from one country to another to secure her business, at that time it was only perfumes. Even one of the directors of Parfums Chanel, who tried to sell her perfumes in the US, eventually had to give up. Because Gabrielle had her connections everywhere. Some say this was because she was friends with Churchill. Though many suspected her, no one could prove anything against her. She travelled from France to Switzerland and continued manufacturing and selling her line of perfumes from there. It was during the sales of Chanel No. 5 that put her back on the hot seat of the fashion business, where it is estimated that her earnings were nearly a million every year. This marked her comeback from being labelled as a bourgeois in society to launching her own collection in the 1950s. Thus, began the era of Chanel creating a demand for stylish yet modest feminine outfits that all women from the high street to the first-ladies wanted to wear. The world of beauty and fashion – all know and discuss Coco Chanel as if they’ve known her for generations – or did Gabrielle Chanel deliberately use an alias Coco Chanel to keep her mystique alive like the scent of the perfume that she had once created…
Photography: Pierre Bernasconi/Apis/Sygma/Corbis | New York Times and Chanel.
This is the first time that I have written on Couture because I thought the story of Gabrielle Chanel is so real yet untold. Would love to hear your thoughts via email at shveta@interactif.in
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