Tuesday, May 12, 2009

You Look Like a Million Bucks!

The 1930s were about hand-me-downs and making do. However, they were also about avant garde designers - Elsa Schiaparelli and Madeleine Vionnet of the bias-cut glamour gown.

Traditionally, fashion and status and wealth were completely linked. These avant garde designers were making lovely things, but not very many people could afford it.

Coco Chanel, known for her trim suits, little black dresses and clever knits, blurred the classes. She could easily translate haute mode to everyone else. She took the esthetic of poverty and made it fashionable. Chanel transformed the jersey, which was basically used for fisherman's underwear, into a fashion fabric worn by the Parisiennes. And it was she who made costume jewellery chic, not scandalous, when she wore heaps of faux pieces mixed with genuine gems.

Anyone can look like a million bucks!
But note the irony here: a Chanel suit is upwards of $1000 today. You will have to find a different designer who blurs the classes.

3 comments:

Alicia @ boylerpf said...

The old Chanel was so great...simple and classic. The NEW Chanel is a wee bit too avante garde for me! I wonder if I think that because of the price tag?!?! The New Look of that era was so classy...still is.

Keith said...

I love Chanel. Did you watch the movie done about her?

Some Like it Vintage.com said...

I'm dying to watch the movie with Audrey Tatou. Have you seen it? I've heard good things about it...