Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto
Exhibition
Opens Saturday, 16 September 2023
V&A
South Kensington
The first UK exhibition dedicated to the work of
French couturière, Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel, charting the establishment of the
House of CHANEL and the evolution of her iconic design style which continues to
influence the way women dress today.
https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/gabrielle-chanel-fashion-manifesto
EXHIBITION
How Gabrielle became Coco Chanel
A new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in
London charts the designer’s transformation from an impoverished girl to a
woman whose style went on to define not just her own era, but ours too
Monday June
05 2023, 12.13am BST, The Times
How did a
French couturière, Gabrielle, become Coco Chanel? An upcoming show at the
Victoria and Albert Museum in London aims to answer this very question through
an examination of the life and designs of one of the fashion industry’s most
celebrated creatives.
Having
transferred from the Palais Galliera in Paris, it is the UK’s first exhibition
dedicated entirely to the work of Chanel. Curated by Oriole Cullen, the
mastermind behind the V&A’s recent Christian Dior exhibition, it will
feature more than 200 looks. Visitors will be able to walk among some of the
earliest surviving Chanel creations, including costumes for a 1924 Ballets
Russes production of Le Train Bleu, and outfits for the actresses Lauren Bacall
and Marlene Dietrich. The exhibition will also feature archive photography
contextualising Chanel’s life, offering an insight into the process of
self-creation that enabled her to become a name synonymous with Parisian chic,
from Gabrielle to “Coco”.
Gabrielle
Chanel’s early life was difficult. She was born into poverty in rural France in
1883 and, after the death of her mother, she and her siblings were abandoned at
an orphanage by their father. As a young adult, she moved to Moulins where she
worked as a seamstress and café singer, and it was during this period that she
reclaimed the nickname Coco, originally given to her by her father. Among her
favourite songs in her repertoire was Qui qu’a vu Coco, and close friends and
family began addressing her as Coco. Shortly thereafter, she met the wealthy
British polo player Arthur “Boy” Capel. In a period of limited social mobility,
their relationship and Capel’s financial support gave Chanel the opportunity to
pursue a career in fashion.
With his
help, 27-year-old Chanel opened her first shop in 1910, a millinery on Paris’s
Rue Cambon. While her early hats were wide-brimmed and featured ornate
feathers, over time her designs began to reflect the practical elegance that would
become her brand’s signature. One such model from 1917, which will be on
display at the exhibition, is made of looped braid with a relaxed crown, making
it easily collapsible.
Chanel’s
hats quickly became popular with the celebrated actresses of the day and it was
this success that enabled her to expand into clothing. The brand’s simple and
comfortable designs struck a chord with the women of France, many of whom,
exhausted by the pressures of the First World War, were eager to shed the
pretence and discomfort of ostentatious dresses and corsets, and embrace
simpler styles.
As the
brand’s popularity grew, Chanel was able to begin designing accessories and
jewellery and, with the help of Ernest Beaux, perfumes. The scent that launched
the brand into the world of fragrances was Chanel No5, designed to “smell like
a woman, and not like a rose”, with clean, simple packaging. It became the
world’s bestselling perfume and the exhibition will feature a bottle of No5
from its original launch in 1921.
Chanel’s
imagination catalysed the brand’s success in ways that can still be felt across
the fashion landscape today. She made it chic and modern for women to wear
black, rather than something to be reserved for widowhood. She incorporated
flexible, knitted jersey material that made her clothes comfortable, and she
engineered removable cuffs and collars for her collections to make them easier
to clean. She even recontextualised the traditional wide-leg trousers used by
French naval officers as a flattering garment for women — ultimately a
precursor to the modern bell-bottom.
As you
wander around the V&A, Cullen recommends looking out for the pops of colour
as well. “Chanel is often associated with monochrome, as she favoured black,
white and beige,” she says. “But she did also embrace colour, particularly in
the latter part of her career, and there are some surprising inclusions in this
part of the exhibition.”
The show’s ten themed sections will include an overview of Chanel’s partnerships and inspirations, and consider her 61-year career against the backdrop of a changing European landscape. Her contributions to the industry are lasting, Cullen says. “Over a century from the founding of the house, the name Chanel is undeniably present in contemporary culture.”
1.
Gabrielle
Chanel. Fashion Manifesto opens at the V&A in London on September 16. Early
access tickets go on sale June 7; vam.ac.uk
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