Today, I will continue to interpret for you the book "The Legendary Life of Coco Chanel".
Yesterday we learned about Chanel's independent and hard-working attitude to life from three aspects, namely: although Chanel suffered from the early death of her mother, abandoned by her father, and lived a tragic and loveless childhood and girlhood, she did not complain and stagnate, but chose to face positively; when she interacted with multiple nobles, Chanel did not lose herself, did not attach herself to anyone, and clearly realized that only independence can give her a sense of security, so Chanel did not slow down the pace of career development, but continued to move forward She worked hard all her life until the last moment of her life.
Today, let's take a look at how Chanel created her own era.
1. Created the era that belonged to Chanel
(1) Design characteristic products from the perspective of unique user needs
First, let's take a look at how Chanel started her career. How to design her own featured products from the perspective of unique user needs.
Coco's first two lovers, Palerson and Carper, although they were both rich and noble, but Coco's position around them was not clear and stable, that is, in such an embarrassing atmosphere of neither a master nor a servant, nor did she want to be raised, Coco was very depressed, confused and uneasy, so she began to find a way out for herself.
Through Palerson and Carper, Coco met their female companions, and later became an actress's socialite and a high-class lady. At that time, these noble ladies and women in the snow and wind wore large puffy skirts supported by linings, tight jackets for whale skeletons, feather decorations, lace lace, chinchilla skin coats, etc., wearing oversized hats that were seriously incongruous with their heads, vulgar decorations that seemed to crush their heads, and useless frills.
They are extremely inconvenient to travel, get on and off, so Coco sees an opportunity, she believes that the clothing must be practical, not flashy. To liberate women and give them freedom of movement: Coco first planned to design simple hats. So Palerson, who became friends, provided Coco with his Paris foothold as a storefront, while her boyfriend Carbo offered her start-up capital.
In this way, Coco began her career, first buying simple flat-topped straw hats in the mall, then creating them, decorating them with ribbons, or other simple decorations.
These works are very chic and eye-catching. Removing the vulgar and useless ornaments, the ladies put on this hat and looked so young and lively. In this way, Coco opened up her own path.
Coco and the clerks, working together, going out together, showing off these hats everywhere, young, lively clerks, like children still in school, are Coco's best models.
There are also the actors that Coco knows, who show Coco's hats on stage and in magazines. People started talking about the surprising, distinctive hats, which were so simple and elegant. So, at first, out of curiosity, the customers came, and then batch after batch, Coco's hat business was a great success, and she became the focus of attention, but also made the opponents and competitors feel embarrassed, and despised the boy's head with a neat short hair: Coco.
After the hat was successful, Coco began to design clothing. As always, she only does designs that suit her own, breaking women's oversized puffy skirts and tight tops, excessively displaying cumbersome clothing with female lines, and designing comfortable clothes to make it convenient for women to travel.
She took inspiration from Carpel's sportswear: simple knitwear, light, casual cardigans and other loose and comfortable clothes, these clothes are so simple, simple and smooth, once introduced, subverted the stereotype of over-shaping curves, and opened up the casualness and freedom that belonged to Chanel characteristics.
Chanel breaks with the world, design thinking from the practical point of view of life, and the concept of interpreting the natural lines of the female body without distortion. She was so successful that everyone wanted to get to know her, and she became a big celebrity, a womenswear designer like a star.
Her clothing, her career, in return for the fact that she no longer needed any financial guarantees and investments from Carbo, and with the success of the business, Coco's assets continued to expand, and she had opened stores in Paris, Duvière, and Villaz, and she had made enough money.
Chanel completely broke the tradition of restraint on women and liberated women from action, making them lively, young and independent. As she said: Nothing makes a woman look older than cumbersome, cumbersome, pretentious attire.
Those trivial, extravagant times were about to pass, and Chanel ushered in an era of freedom and liberation that belonged to her.
(2) Seize the opportunity to create and design clothing that conforms to the background of the times
Next, let's understand how Chanel seized the opportunity to create clothes that fit the background of the times.
After the outbreak of the First World War, Chanel went to Duvière with a few tailors who made hats. Despite the horrors of war, Chanel's stores in Paris, Duvière, and Villaz have been growing in sales and business.
Because in turbulent times, the role of women changed, and they could be competent workers, ambulance drivers, or military vehicles, chanel's pragmatic ideas prevailed. She quickly adapted to the various conditions of the war, immediately began to work, in the case of shortage of raw materials, using a relatively easy to buy fabric, launched a series of practical and beautiful clothes, such as: loose long jackets, knitted coats, straight skirts, plain sailor shirts, to adapt to that era of war, in the first summer of the war, Chanel earned 200,000 gold francs.
The practical clothes she designed, they are chic, solid colors, low-key and unobtrusive, are the only fashion dresses that fit the background of the times in that repressive war era.
As she said: fashion should interpret place, time.
Chanel watched the era of luxury pass by: the cumbersome patterns, the cascading and breathless puffy skirts, the embroidery, ruffles and other restraining women's clothing will be gone, and she feels that her time has come.
In November 1918, after the end of World War I, Chanel had gone from the embarrassment and uncertainty of "semi-high society" to the focus of the world's attention. Her costumes were favored by the duchesses and princesses, and her fame and wealth were on a par with her viets.
In December of the following year after the war, the Carbot boy died in a car accident, and Chanel was devastated, but her upbringing has forged her courage and energy to face all her misfortunes positively, allowing her to move on. A small black dress was designed to symbolize the color of mourning, and it was called by the American version of vogue magazine: this is the "Ford" signed Chanel.
It looks both simple and elegantly fitted, like a Ford car, becoming a woman who represents a new era. Because both of them are rapidly popular, the lines are smooth, and they are restrained and low-key.
After the war, the women's clothing industry in Paris was monopolized by a few insiders, who carefully served a small number of people, that is, the high-class countesses and princesses, and the quality of the business became secondary.
And Chanel once again became an innovator, she found that the post-war economic depression environment, women began to work, the trend trend of clothing is biased towards simplicity and generosity, freedom and comfort and competence, for the development of her business, she was the first for the general public, design a variety of preferences of clothes, to meet the different needs of customers, caused a wide resonance.
It was in this way that Chanel seized the market opportunity with an innovative vision, launched clothing and products that met the background of the times, and rapidly expanded her wealth: in 1918, she bought the shop at 31 Rue Des Campsins in Paris, Bought No. 29 in 1923, Bought No. 25 in 1926, and bought No. 27 and No. 23 in 1927. Chanel has created her own fashion empire.
Chanel, on the road to her clothing, was an innovator and a revolutionary, and she was the first pioneer to promote the art of women's clothing based on the perspective of career development: to popularize women's clothing art.
(3) In her twilight comeback, Chanel still adheres to her concept of making clothing: loose and practical, free
Finally, let's take a look at it together: Chanel came back at the age of 70, how did she stick to her concept of making clothes?
During World War II, Chanel's association with a confused German officer damaged her reputation, and affected by the war, Chanel gradually faded from the attention of fashion critics and settled in Switzerland.
It wasn't until 15 years later, in 1954, at the age of 70, that Chanel was angered by the trend of Dior's designers returning to corsets: because the concept of tightness was rejected by Chanel during World War I, she wanted to create fashion that allowed women to live, breathe, feel comfortable, and look young.
So Chanel returned with her work, but this time she was not so lucky, and was strongly attacked by the media and fashion writers: her usually simple and smooth style, which the media considered to be a repetition of nothing new, no chest, no waist, no hip line, was a failed display.
Perhaps whatever Chanel showed, the French media would be critical, perhaps as punishment for her during the war. But those blind and violent attacks did not make Chanel retreat, but ignited her fighting spirit. She said: I am insisting, and I must persist, and those who oppose it will eventually understand.
It was the United States that made Chanel's comeback shine. Vogue magazine in the United States published Chanel's comfortable suits and dresses, and these elegant costumes made people shine. As a result, orders from the United States came like a tidal wave. Those creations that were ridiculed as eating old books once again made Chanel famous.
Chanel has always understood the true desire of women: clothing that makes women confident. So she encouraged women to cut their hair short and told professional women not to wear corsets so they couldn't work. Chanel is once again introducing casual clothing: loose pullovers and shirts.
Chanel led the way, and her understated, simple and practical clothing became the most fashionable symbol of the era. All her life, she has been working on the clothes that make women free to live— to drive, to ride, to work, etc. freely, and you even forget what you are wearing.
As Chanel said: the elegance of clothing lies in the freedom of action. She has always been creating clothes that liberate and self-confidence for women, has the courage to break with tradition, lead the trend of women's clothing, and create an era that belongs to Chanel.
2. Knowledge review
Well, today's content is all over, now let's review today's content:
Today, we mainly talk about how Chanel created her own era: first of all, from the perspective of unique user needs, that is, simplicity. She broke with tradition, abandoned the cumbersome, and designed a simple, chic hat that made her a great success;
Secondly, both during and after the First World War, Chanel seized the market opportunity to design clothes that fit the context of the times: loose and practical. Empower women to do what they want, both during and after the war;
In the end, Chanel returned at the age of 70 after 15 years of silence, still adhering to her fashion philosophy: practicality and freedom. She has spent her life trying to make women free to move.
At this point, today's content is all over. What will be shared for you tomorrow is Chanel's thoughts of fighting for freedom all her life.
The elegance of the garment lies in the freedom of movement;
Fashion, like a landscape, presents the state of the soul, and my fashion is presenting my state of mind;
Fashion is always contained in the times you live in, and it is not something isolated.