Coco Chanel Fashion Design

Gisselle Lavariega

Mrs. Johnson

Senior paper

Date

(The Revolutionary Coco Chanel)

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, known to most as Coco Chanel, “Arguably the most influential fashion designer of all time, Coco Chanel revolutionised the way women wore clothes and paved a new way for the fashion brand, capitalising on the changing times she was living in and her status as a fashion icon”(Dunne). Her clothing designs, from the use of jersey to the Chanel suit, demonstrate her rebellious to the common norm. Shaping the fashion industry to something once dominated by tight fitting, near strangulation attire to a looser more comfortable fit suitable for every occasion. Everything in clothing department stores has her fingerprints, originating from T-shirt

The earliest design’s for the dress were made from the fabric jersey because of its flexibility and its ability to sew seamlessly. Chanel had a love for the color black because of her time in the Catholic orphanage and the nuns who took care of her, who dressed in black. Moreover black was reserved for funerals, it was very unusual and not fairly common to see black worn outside of that occasion. The dress ended higher and created a less shaping look than the ones prior to it, creating a dressy or casual feel. Before, women wore dresses that gave them a s-shape with corsets that clung to the body and dragged on the floor. But this black dress challenged the norm by ending at the knee, constructing something loose and comfortable. Extending to every occasion with its simple outerour look, designed with every woman in mind .“In 1926, American Vogue likened Chanel’s “little black dress” to the Ford, alluding to its almost universal popularity as a fashion basic. In fact, the concept of the dress suitable for day and evening did become both a staple for Chanel...” (Krick). The dress became one of her most well-known accomplishments and empowered women, because it emphasized the idea to dress comfortable and not for a man liking. Chanel made a dress that women wanted to wear. It formed a feeling of freedom and less restriction, unlike the years

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