Coco Chanel and her Little Black Dress

    As, style icons go, Coco Chanel was the most famous woman of her time. During the 20’s and 30’s, her little black dress, easy jersey fabrics, masculine tailoring and even trousers were match with bobbed haircuts and suntanned skin. Chanel became a global phenomenon twelve years after her death, when Karl Lagerfeld reopened her brand and making the fashion house one of the largest in the world.

    In 1983 Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel was born among six siblings in France. When she was twelve she was sent to an orphanage run by nuns because her family was really poor. Here she learnt how to sew. Some years later she got her first job as a seamstresser. When she was twenty five she opened her fist hat business. In five years her business went from hats to all kind of garments. It didn’t take long until she got mentioned in Vogue. She was successful because she was the first ever designer to loosen up all woman clothing and make them comfortable. From wearing big bulky skirts she started designing women trousers. She started using men fabrics for women clothing. This made the clothes much more comfortable than before. Chanel produced cardigans and twinsets, ad adapted men’s sweaters to be worn over straight skirts. 

    Before the 1920’s wearing black was a sign that the person is mourning. Black was never worn for everyday life especially by women. This all changed until Coco Chanel in 1926 launched her little black dress named ‘Chanel’s Ford’, because like the Fords’ model T it was a dress accessible to woman from all classes. Vogue published pictures of this dress in that same year were they called it “uniform for the modern women”.  The story behind this little black dress was that she started wearing black as mourning after her loved one Boy Capel died in 1919. She designed this dress mainly for her, and later for the market. Even tough it was on Vogue, people didn’t want to wear black except for funerals and it was only in the mid 30’s that this dress made a huge hit in the market. Below is a picture of the ‘Chanel Ford’ dress. It looks very elegant and flowy. It looks very versatile: depending with what you wear it, it can be a day dress, or an evening dress. 

    Under Chanel’s dress there is a picture of a dress from 2013 sold from ASOS.com. They look so similar! Chanels’ designs were so futuristic that we still wear very similar clothing. The only difference between them is that the latest one has long sleeves, but the body shape is exactly the same! The other small difference is that the one from ASOS.com has a waistband at the waist. Both round necklines are the same shape and both are very flowy. Materials must be also very similar because they both look that they from some thin material, eight satin or cotton.

Bibliography:

James Dean Oct 2010 http://onthisdayinfashion.com/?p=6210

http://www.asos.com

All searched on the 3rd Nov 2013

Deborah Bee Harrods Publishings 2010 Couture In The 21^st Century