My first week back in Paris and - thanks to a tip from my girlfriend in Tokio - decided to meet up with a Dutch friend for an "after-work" guided tour on the theme of Gabrielle Chanel. How to resist an invitation to retrace the history of the Chanel brand, from the creations of Coco to the legendary tailors of Karl Lagerfeld in preparation of the biggest Chanel exhibition ever to be inaugurated at the Palais Galliera, Paris' Fashion Museum on October 1, 2020!
During our tour we took a closer look at the secrets of rue Cambon, the Parisian address where Coco put her suitcases in 1918 before settling in at the Ritz place Vendôme where she died in 1971.
As the story goes, there was once upon a time a young woman named Gabrielle Chanel who masked her peasant origins and created her own Haute-Couture legend with a little help from Boy Capel, her British sweetheart. Symbol of French elegance across the globe, Coco Chanel broke codes and liberated the bodies of modern women in more than one way.
Founded in 1910, the house of Chanel created the new feminine silhouette, a stylistic revolution. The ankles became visible, the waist was released from the corset, the skin featured a tan, and hair was cut shorter. During the Roaring Twenties, the young designer redesigned the Parisian silhouette which resisted fashion trends and the passage of time. The chic sportswear outfit, the famous little black dress and her daring Chanel “N°5” fragrance all became the pledge of the timeless and the epitome of French elegance.
As Coco would say: "A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous." However, my favrourite Coco quote is: "You can be gorgeous at thirty, charming at forty, and irresistible for the rest of your life."
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