Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a world-renowned fashion designer during The Great Depression of the 1930s? Designers like Coco Chanel, Madeleine Vionnet, Madame Grès, and Valentina Schlee most certainly had this experience. The 30s was a decade full of incredible and influential designers who each brought their own style to the world of fashion.
Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel, perhaps the most famous designer of the twentieth century, made some of her biggest contributions to fashion in the 1930s. “When Chanel was old enough to leave [the boarding school she was placed into after the abandonment of her father due to her mother’s death], the nuns found her a job at a local boutique, The House of Gramayre, where she worked as a shop assistant and seamstress” (“Overview-Chanel” 2). It was this opportunity that helped Chanel realize her love of fashion, which otherwise may have not been possible due
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“Madame Grès lived for her clothes and had no interest in herself. She conducted a love affair with fabric, knowing how each one fell and knowing what each one would or would not do” (“Madame Grès” 1). Madame Grès was able to gain her success and fame by devoting her life to her work and absolutely nothing else. “While [Grès] maintained a careful approach to mainstream fashion following a dominant line and despising extreme sub fashions, her most famous range was composed of her changeless, grecian evening dresses [...] Grès seemed to design for Greek goddesses” (“Madame Grès” 1). This shows that Grès was able to design ordinary pieces as well as venture in the opposite direction and create more unique designs. Madame Grès also adopted some of her fashion techniques from another culture, which made her designs both sophisticated and interesting in the eyes of consumers as well as other designers. Grès’s unique style makes her the amazing designer she is remembered as