Fashion designs by Gabrielle Coco Chanel - Essay Example

? ESSAY, VISUAL ARTS AND FILM STUDIES September 14th An account of how the fashion designs by Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel reflected artistic and socio-cultural change in the twentieth century from her early beginnings to her comeback in the 1950s. Gabriel Coco Chanel was one f the most extraordinary and celebrated couturiers of the twentieth century. Her designs were impeccable. She was raised in a humble family and her parents separating while she was still at a tender age. Her family could not raise her and she ended up in an orphanage. Her great ambitions and innovation helped her, as she began a small millinery shop as one of her first investments. She did not stop there as she proceeded and built a large fashion house with branches across Europe, for example, in Paris and London. Her earlier career in cloth fashion was her boutique, where she could sell casual clothes used during leisure time or designed for sporting activities. She also sold sweaters and jackets, which became very popular around the world due to the innovative stylish features she came up with. During the twentieth century, social, cultural and historical events and practices had a lot of impact on fashion and design. The designers could easily access the styles, desired designs, and the required materials. The good thing was that during the time, communication and travel across continents had been eased and one could travel across the continents (Victoria and Albert n.d.). Fashions across many regions were designed in accordance to the tradition and believes, for example in America during the early years of republic. People preferred to reveal themselves through clothing. These people embraced liberty and democracy; their mode of expression was through fashions (Welters and Patricia 2005). As time progressed, women desired clothing that was less restrictive, offered a lot of comfort, and were reasonable. It was during these moments of fashion design revolution that Gabrielle Chanel Coco emerged; her life is funny in the way she could live in an image of herself. She spent most of her life perpetually changing her life story. She at times denied that she did not have brothers and sisters. She lied about her father and sometimes pretended not to remember anything about her clients. Her life was generally an interesting one. Her mind was full of fabrication (Madsen 1990). Chanel’s designs represented the desires of women and reflected the changing lives. Her work was modern and her designs contradicted those of former designers, who often sought themes of fantasies. Hers were intended for excitement. Before Chanel’s entrance into the fashion design industry, there were others like Paul Poiret, whose designs had manifested changes in the new century; his designs did not embrace the modern life, unlike those of Chanel, who optimized hers to fit a youthful life. Her designs valued comfort and simplicity. The designs made for females could appropriately accommodate their form, since they were somewhere between being tight and loose (Koda 2005). Chanel’s wares were similar to her dressing mode; she could wear what made her look smart and clothing that brought revolution to women wear. To describe, she could wear a skirt; a trim one and a matching jacket that could stretch to the hip, had a notched collar, and squeezed slightly at her waist. It is highly notable that her costumes were recognizable just as her identity was. Her presence in a production was anonymous as she could boost ticket sales. She knew well how to make her clothing with jewelries and scuffs, something that became admirable to the young generation. She was on her style, unique from the previous fashion designers. Chanel Coco was described to be a realistic designer. In her early design life, she had decided to be wearing jersey because it was cheap. The steps Chanel had taken were amazing; from a hat designer to apparel designer. She used to borrow her design style from the men’s wear. Her approach was simple; to design clothes out of architecture. Her designs inspired many and she used to encourage that, as she intended her designs to roll out to every place in the streets and throughout the country (Rauf 2009). Chanel’s historic nature expressed in her designs, she often removed the internal structures such as crinoline, which was traditionally seen in the women wear. She revealed the modernity of her design by emphasizing the design techniques. Fashion provides a means of social communication; it defines or shows out what a person does and the financial status. Ones’ mode of dressing is influenced by the taste he or she has or what he or she likes. The earlier clothing was for warmth, but as live was evolving, attention changed and clothing became a detailed system which came about as result of culture, evolution and sophisticated system of life (Rauf 2009). Fashion designing did not exist before 1860, in the history of designers; the most successful fashion designers were accredited for being sensitive to changing times. People working in factories wanted to have their garments designed to meet their work requirements and during the periods of celebrations, there was need for designs of garments that expressed joy and happiness. The growth and experience of any designer represents the heart of a generation. The year in which one is born is one of the primary determining factors of one’s’ innovation. Coco Channel had undergone several experiences in her life, and since she lived within the periods of the world wars, she had experienced several political movements. She therefore must have gained knowledge in politics. Her early age too was full of events; she had been born in a poor family and raised in an orphanage. During her career, she had a lot of passion in her work. Lifestyle and trends are always influenced by socio cultural changes that usually occur in life, for example modernization, artistic life, and changes in technology. In order to come up with a fashion design, one should have a great understanding of the consumers’ lifestyles and cultures. The fashion designs by Chanel Coco greatly appreciated the socio cultural life of the people, and were highly appreciated and desired. This is one of the great reasons as to why her designs were developing and became the most popular not only in France, but also across many nations and the continents. Social changes in the society such as the changes in the roles played by women and men led to the changes in dressing system and fashion designs. These changes had a lot of influence, for example after the First World War, the most popular fashion through boyish suited youth was the garcons look; it mainly consisted of men’s jackets with short hair. During such times, women were looked down upon and were given small participation in politics, economic activities, and social life. The situation later changed, for example in United Kingdom, all women obtained suffrage in 1928; those who had an age of over 30, had achieved their undergraduate studies, and were married, were given a chance to vote (Kim, Marie and Hyejeung Kim 2011). During the 1980’s, the number of women who were working had increased and by then, they could be seen in suits; these were made up of jackets that had shoulder pads. They were worn with skirts. This fashion system displayed a lot about the changed roles of women; the way they wore defined their positions in the working places. In the western world, the various luxurious outfits provided an inspirational platform for many young fashion designers like Gabrielle Coco. The rapid changing societal environment was another factor and aspiratory source that influenced the growth of fashion designs developed by Gabrielle Chanel. During the year 1920, the women emancipation movement motivated Gabrielle Chanel into creating her most popular suits called Chanel style suits. The economic influence was another factor that cannot be left out, as it motivated Chanel to make her designs. There was a high demand for the new and beautiful dresses, as long as one could afford, then the design could be obtained from Chanel. This new environment promoted the rise and progress of Chanel Coco. In the sector of entertainment, actors and actresses influenced the style of fashion designs and their trends. As an example, an actor by the name James Dean loved wearing Jeans and had many followers in the name of youth; they were inspired by this, and most of them turned out to wear jeans. Another actor called Brando popularly wore a black leathered jacket. These two dragged the young generation into wearing that type of clothing. This is a clear indication of how art influenced the fashion. The athletic sportswear and sport suits begun to be popular in the daily life of youth (Kim, Marie and Hyejeung Kim 2009). Chanel embraced the reality of making herself done up. Her life style resembled that of Hollywood stars or princesses around. Her designs and lifestyle targeted such people with high status caliber. The contrast that existed between Chanel and other fashion designers like Poiret was that, while Poiret could go out of his way, Chanel could not. She had realized that women liked dressing up fashionably, and thus in most of her designs, she was targeting women. It was a custom for Chanel to wear the clothes she designed. She often described herself as a fashion, rather than fashion designer. Channels talent and career as a fashion designer took a major stride in the modest stage; her designs entered the French and American Cinema. Her clothing designs were at one moment worn by Romy Schneldrer, Gbria Swanson, and other performers during an onscreen (Koda, Bolton and Garelick 2005). Movie actors too were influenced by Chanel Coco. Her inheritor Karl Lagerfeld designed garments using the same fashion and even though they were expensive, they were worn by artists, moviegoers, and actors; indeed, most celebrities. Historians date back the history of fashion designs to many centuries before the emergence of Chanel coco. Fashions indicated people’s tastes and could not necessarily describe or express individuals’ professions or classes. Chanel had great understanding of theoretical designs. Fashion brought a sense of humor to daily life; she therefore improved it with 20th century celebrities. As time went by, she partially left her decoration and began designing jewelries. In the past, culture had dictated that the unmarried women should not wear necklaces; this was to avoid the imagination that they were luring men into marrying them, but women who had a lot of achievements in their lives lied so that they could enjoy wearing the jewelries that had golden pieces. Jewels designed by Chanel Coco dominated for decades (Koda, Bolton and Garelick 2005). The comeback of Chanel in 1954 was also sounding, although she had to struggle to compete in the market. She fought all the critics using her wisdom, her designs were once more very decorative and from time to time, she could add a new value to her work. Her creativity, which had customers in mind, had long been observed when she was designing handbags in 1925; her designs were good enough to replace the enveloped bags. Their capacity was enough to hold a lot of things; their shape was amazing and was much liked by the customers. During this second entry into the field of designs, she introduced the chain handled bags and black shoe (Koda, Bolton and Garelick 2005); this was a period after the Second World War and must have influenced her. After her death, Lagerfeld took over and could extend Chanel designs to higher heights, which could be coveted by people and hip hop celebrities. The above discussion has described the participation of Chanel Coco designs, which in most cases had been inspired by the events that were going on. She was driven by the socio cultural desires of the people. She at all moments inspired her customers; this gave her great recognition and her business grew up significantly. Most nations throughout the world recognized her designs and many designers that followed were inspired by her work. The designers therefore should learn that fashion designs are all about embracing the society. Fashion Designs by Chanel Coco Image showing Chanel’s design Image of Chanel’s crochet (Kathryn Cramer 2012) (Don Rauf 2009) Image of chanel bag (Kathryn Cramer 2012) Image of Chanel jackets (Kathryn Cramer 2012) Bibliography Cramer, Kathryn. Designer Crochet- Coco Chanel. http://www.crochetconcupiscence.com/2012/01/designer-crochet-coco-chanel/ Koda, Horold, Andrew Bolton, Rhonda Garelick K. 2005. Chanel. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Kim,Eudeok, Ann Marie F. and Hyejeong Kim. 2011. Fashion Trends: Analysis and Forecasting. New York: Berg Publishers. Madsen, Alex. 1990. Coco Chanel: A Biography. London: Bloomsbury Publishers plc. Rauf, Don and Monique Vescia 2009. Fashion Designer. New York: Bright Future Press. Victoria and Albert Museum. Introduction to 20th - Century Fashion. http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/i/introduction-to-20th-century-fashion/ Welters, Linda and Patricia Cunningham A. eds. 2005. Twentieth – century American Fashion. New York: Berg Publishers. Read More