"Fashion is not an art, it is a job" Coco Chanel The lady-boss of the House of Chanel: Did you know that Coco Chanel was not only very different from most designers, but that she also worked very differently? She did not design on paper and did not have a sketch book. Unlike her successor, Karl Lagerfeld, who designed ALWAYS on paper. When Coco Chanel started her fashion house, she actually had very little couture sewing techniques. She had taught herself almost everything herself and worked mainly from her feeling and instinct. She had a great sense of how fabrics could be draped around the female body. Nice lady or a demanding lady-boss? When she founded her Fashion House and became more and more successful she got assistants and employees. She passed on her instructions verbally and came across as compelling and very demanding. Her models were also not always happy with the job, they sometimes had to stand for hours until Mrs. Chanel was satisfied. (and she was not easy to please) Coco Chanel is often associated as an unkind woman who only went straight for her goal and used people to be successful. In the movie "Coco before Chanel", we learn a lot how Gabrielle started her career in the fashion world. She knows how to move up through stubbornness and opportunism. She knows how to enter the world of the chic ladies through a big (rich) friend. This friend later became her big sponsor and he owes her success largely. Time perspective But let's take a closer look at everything. Coco Chanel was a passionate woman who had a goal in mind. Her dream was unusual for the time. She did not want to get married and have children, but started a business and influence the world of the rich and the famous. There would be nothing wrong with that today. People would admire her and knows what it takes to work day and night at a goal in life. There were few women at the time who chose careers, who could take the opportunity to build this up and persisted at all. If Gabrielle had lived in our time, her 'character' might have looked or judged very different. Coco Chanel would have Social Media to create influence, she could probably found money or sponsors in other ways and maybe she would have been a great candidate for Dragons' Den. It is bad to be unkind, opportunistic and driven? Not at all. Coco Chanel got her success and she earned it by working hard and having creative and completely new ideas about Fashion, exactly in the right time when women needed something new and inspiring. Anyway, we wish Coco Chanel, still retroactively, its success. And whether she was unkind or not, she has created a Fashion label that still matters. Perhaps she would never have succeeded if she hadn't had her 'bitchy' qualities. It is not a secret that Coco Chanel did not like 'prints'. At most a 'Breton stripe', but nothing more than that. According to Chanel, chic was mainly austerity in the design of the fabrics. Except for the tweeds and bouclé fabrics, these were luxurious and 'colorful' enough. Either you love it or you hate it Who likes prints? Most people love it. From tropical flowers to a 'tiger print', it can't be colorful enough. Especially in the summer we are crazy about to prints. It makes us happy and it looks great as a blouse or summer dress. But read Ines de la Fressange's books and one thing becomes very clear: prints are NOT DONE! According to her, you will not easily find a real Parissiéne dressed with 'a print'. The Parisian style is more about the monotonous colors, the creative combinations of trés-chic and elegance of the timeless classics. Chanel style jackets and prints
If we want to look stylish but occasionally deviate from the 'rules', then combining a Chanel-style jacket (self-made of course!) With a print underneath is definitely a nice idea. Who says that this can't look be chic and casual at the same time? Bouclé and tweeds, but also summer tweeds, are often very busy in terms of appearance. The fabrics are woven and there is always a beautiful mix of colors and sometimes even patterns. A blouse with a printed design underneath can easily come across as very 'busy' and a bit cheap. Fringes, edges and prints? Apart from that, the Chanel style is often characterized by a lot of fringes, beautifully finished trims and two or even four pockets stitched on the jacket. They should of course be the eye-catchers of your outfit. Taking all this into account, we would like to point out that a printed blouse, t-shirt or even pants, under a Chanel jacket, is fine if you observe the following rules:
Prints will never go out of style and occasionally combining with them may not be 'Paris' chic, but again not as 'not-done' as suggested in many style books and guides on Chanel couture and Parisian style. We love prints ... occasionally. We love this little book about the 50 modeclassics, their history and styling tips. Unfortunatly it is written in the Dutch and German language. For those who can read it: herby the book review and hopefully you will enjoy it anyway... Book review
The Chanel booklet is a treasure. Written by; Isabel Sánchez Vegara and illustrated by Ana Albero. It summarizes her life in a nutshell and has an eye for detail and her unique style.
We read and see how Coco Gabrielle Chanel built her empire through her unusual and renewed style. She created outfits for women that were stylish but above all gave the woman more freedom to move. The hats were practical and minimalistic, and the corsets were banned. Coco designed clothes for the modern woman who was not standing still in life but on the move, perhaps working (this was very unusual at the time). Her choice of colors, minimalist style and specific accessories such as the famous Chanel 2.55 handbag are still very popular and expensive 'must-haves'. Little people big dreams This is a series of books written by several writers and illustrated by various illustrators. The covers are colorful and have very nice illustrations. But above all, it stands out because of the famous names on the covers of the books. Great people in our history, like: Coco Chanel, Maya Angelou, Agatha Christie, Audrey Hepburn, Anne Frank, Jane Goodall, Simone de Beauvoir and Mother Theresa. Fashion designers, style icons, writers, feminists, nature activists, war heroes and so on. But men are also included: Stephan Hawking, Martin Luther King Jr., David Attenborough, Rudolf Nureyev, Muhammed Ali and many more. In addition, series have also been made, available in nice collection boxes: 'Women in science', 'Women in art' ... and there are card games. coloring books and posters. Never heard of it? Almost impossible. From now on, the books will suddenly catch your eye in the bookstore, and it may become your 'Quilty Pleasure' to collect them. "Discover the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began as a child with a dream." Quilty Pleasure The illustrations are wonderful. Colorful, cheerful and just amazing. The lyrics are easy, to the point and great fun to read to children. Summarizing someone's life on 12 double pages is clever and inventive. The illustrations not only supporting the text, but are largely the story itself. It is almost impossible to introduce a child to a character from history in a better ways than these little books. ".... and being different might make other people think differently too. That's why everone now remebers the young Gabrielle as the great designer, Coco Chanel." It is not (yet?) the time to go to Paris. It is not time to travel at all. All cities are closed and Social Isolation is an emergency to get the Corona virus under control. But we have a different idea for you. To feel a bit of spring in Paris, we recommend a few nice books. Enjoy the beautiful photos, the terraces, the beautiful boutiques and especially all the tips and tricks to be stylish as a Parisian! Everything will pass, and sooner or later we will enjoy Paris even more than ever. Paris je t'aime ... How to be Parisian wherever you are
Now it is time for sewing, reading books and watching a movie in the evening. have you already sen the movie 'Coco before Chanel?'
Read our review. we absolutely loved the movie because of it styling, the wonderful clothes and the story. Just enjoy the movie and get inspiration for sewing a Chanel-Style jacket. We are very sure you won't regret. "International Women's Day contributes to making the importance of International Women's Day visible. Equality between men and women and therefore a basis for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. Women must be given equal opportunities to participate in politics, economics and public life. Violence against girls and women such as human trafficking and sexual exploitation must be stopped. " This is the objective of the International Women's Day, which we at SewingChanel Style fully support. We therefore wish every seamstress, designers, fashionata, Chanel-lovers, bloggers, shopowners or co-stasr, artists, workshopowners and all those other thousands of women we have not mentioned, a nice day! Read more about ALL (women) people behind the Chanel couture: Chanel: The Making of a Collection
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All about creating your own Chanel-Style jacket, Chanel-lovers information, Historic Costumes, Couture & Sewing book reviews and tutorials.
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