Coco Chanel Iconic Items

Coco Chanel is one of the most influential fashion designers, whose name is associated with French chic, elegance, femininity, simplicity and luxury at the same time, and, of course, a black little dress.

For decades, she has been the center of attraction for several generations of women. She managed to create not fashion, but her own unique style. She never complained about plagiarism: she enjoyed being copied.

Chanel never drew her clothes models, she created them with scissors and pins right on the fashion models. Among her regular clients were the billionaires of America, Asia and the East. She considered her main victory that her style was perceived by the street, by ordinary people.

In this post, let's take a look at her iconic items.

1. Little black dress. Today, every woman has a LBD in her closet. The little black dress was created by Coco Chanel in 1926 in memory of the deceased lover. A simple semi-round neckline, long narrow sleeves and no unnecessary decor. Black color in clothes at that time was worn only in mourning, but Coco Chanel changed this tradition. Since its creation, the outfit had many changes and variations, but the little black dress still remains elegance and taste.

Illustration of a little black dress in "Vogue", 1926; Delphine Seyrig in "Last Year at Marienbad" (1961) in a Coco Chanel dress; Ines de la Fressange at the Chanel Spring/Summer 1987 show.

2. Perfume Chanel No. 5 is the best-selling perfume of all time. Russian-born French perfumer Ernest Beaux presented to Mademoiselle several options of his new perfume developments, and Coco chose sample number "5", because she loved this figure, and even held her new collection shows on May 5th.

A woman should be fragrant with perfume and purity, without this she is sloppy. (с) Coco Chanel

Before Chanel No. 5 appeared, perfumes were made primarily from natural ingredients of plant or animal origin through empirical mixing. The emergence of synthetic ingredients, that enhanced the durability of the smell and made it "vibrate", turned the perfume market upside down.

Perfume, released in 1921, is still relevant: they retain a magical attraction for women in different parts of the world, it is advertised by famous actresses. The legend of this unique fragrance finally took root in 1952, when Marilyn Monroe answered the question of one of the journalists that at night she puts on only a few drops of Chanel N ° 5 and nothing more.

3. Tweed suit. Today, tweed jackets are the hallmark of Chanel. They are worn by representatives of royal families, actresses, women politicians, it-girls, stylists and editors of fashion magazines.

The classic Chanel suit, which consisted of a knee-length or below skirt and a square-shouldered jacket, complete with gold buttons and contrasting trim for a feminine touch, appeared in the 1930s. Tweed was considered masculine at the time and was used primarily for working-class clothing. Smart, elegant and comfortable - this is how the suit of a businesswoman looked now. Over the years, it has changed, but has not gone out of fashion. In more than 90 years, women have been able to dress businesslike, and at the same time elegantly.

Shirley MacLaine as Coco Chanel in "Coco Chanel" (2008); Marie-Helene Arnaud, 1950s; Ines de la Fressange and Jerry Hall at the Chanel Haute Couture Fall/Winter 1986-1987 show; Anne Hathaway wearing a Chanel jacket in "The Devil Wears Prada" (2006); Nora Attal walks the runway at Chanel’s SS19 show.

4. Blue and white striped shirt. Originally, it was a uniform worn by French seamen. Nowadays, the long-sleeved Breton striped shirt is the symbol of French fashion.

Audrey Tautou as Coco Chanel in "Coco Before Chanel" (2009).

5. Bag 2.55 on a chain. In February 1955, Chanel introduced a small rectangular quilted bag with a long chain, which was supposed to replace impractical reticules. The model was named 2.55 - after the date of creation of the model (February, 1955). Since then, the popularity of this bag model has only grown, despite its inaccessibility and rising price. Over the years, these bags have been produced in a wide variety of colors, decorative patterns, and materials.

Catherine Deneuve wearing a Chanel 2.55 bag, 1961; Kristen Stewart as Diana, Princess of Wales, in "Spencer" (2021).

6. Two-tone shoes. In 1957, Chanel introduced shoes with a beige base and black patent leather toe. Prior to this, women commonly wore shoes to match the exact color of their outfit. Two-tone shoes visually make feet look smaller, while the nude color tends to make the leg look longer.

Romy Schneider in Chanel in the film "Boccaccio '70" (1962).

7. Pearls: a mixture of bijouterie and genuine jewelry. Chanel made pearls popular, she wore them in large quantities. She was the first, who mixed precious stones with fake ones, invented new, original forms, made them mobile, capable of transformation. She made pearls democratic and fashionable, although earlier they were considered only for upper class.