Chanel: The Mother of all Fashion Designers

There are fashion shows and then there are Chanel fashion shows. Opulent, beautifully tailored and the 'big one' at Paris fashion week. The show that creates as much anticipation as the tense throng of journalists outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Paddington while the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth. Chanel sure does bring in the fashion crowds. The difference being one man. The immaculately dressed, silver haired, always hidden behind large black sunglasses man who claims that he would marry his cat if he could (yes, really!) Guessed who it is yet? Karl Lagerfeld. A genius practically engraved into the history books of the house of Chanel. A creative genius whose Chanel shows just keep getting bigger and better. 

The truth is that Chanel is the mother of all fashion houses; a leader of trends, a worldwide power base and a major boost to the fashion economy. Everyone waits for the Chanel show during the last exhausting days of Paris fashion week. What will Lagerfeld conjure up this time? What huge, completely over the top set will the Chanel models strut themselves down? Chanel is the fashion attraction, like Buckingham palace is THE tourist attraction in London; the place everyone wants to see. It seems strange that this house was started over 100 years ago, by a woman who set out to revolutionise womenswear and change the way in which we as women saw ourselves. Femininity in menswear. Could it be possible? To Gabrielle Coco Chanel it certainly was. Ladies and gentleman let me properly introduce you to Chanel.... 

Gabrielle Coco Chanel started her fashion business in millinery, hats to be exact, all the way back in 1910. A star in the making, Coco soon drew in the rich, influential ladies in Paris, who swarmed to her shop to grab themselves the latest Chanel hat. Branching out into womenswear during the First World War, she revolutionised fashion by scraping the formal, tight corset and brought in a more masculine form of dress. Men's jackets, light, jersey fabrics, straw hats and even, God forbid, allowing women to wear trousers, Chanel was changing the way women dressed. She introduced the now iconic tweed suit, those iconic pearl necklaces, the 2.5mm patent handbag and the sensational Chanel No 5 perfume, which Marilyn Monroe was quoted as saying was all she wore to bed... Coco had established herself in the fashion industry, previously dominated by men like Paul Poiret and Pierre Balmain. She was a woman on a mission and she was stopping for no one, especially not for her male competition. 

After loosing sales during the Second World War, Chanel shut up shop leaving Christian Dior free to dominate women's fashion throughout the 1950's with his 'new look'. However, Coco made her return in 1954, ready to make a mark on the industry once more, against Dior, who had brought back the corset and full skirt that Chanel fought so hard to remove from womens wardrobes. She began work on her new collection, ready to reclaim her fashion throne. 

However, the collection was not received so well by the French who felt her association with the Nazi’s had damaged her reputation. She continued to remain a favourite with her American and British audiences, which Karl Lagerfeld recently reminded us after showing the Chanel Metiers d'Art collection in Dallas, Texas. America remained a crucial part of Chanel's sales.  After a triumphant return and a major fashion house in her name, Chanel died in The Hotel Ritz, January 10^th in Paris 1971. That day the world lost an icon; a founding mother of the new woman and a trend setter that gained respect from everyone from Marlene Dietrich to Winston Churchill. 

Karl Lagerfeld today still pays huge homage to Coco in each and every one of his fashion shows, each time adding a special twist that only Karl can produce. One season we are in a barnyard with light, airy dresses in the most beautiful silks, with Lily Allen popping out of a bale of hay. The next, we are in the gardens of Versailles, with heavy influences to Marie Antoinette done the Lagerfeld way.

To be brutally honest, it doesn't matter where the setting, whether it be an underwater kingdom or around a gigantic globe, Lagerfeld always delivers the hottest trends, gorgeous accessories and classic pieces that could have belonged to your grandmother and still be handed down to your grandchildren. A huge hoola - hooped handbag was certainly the talk of fashion land after the Spring Summer 2013 show as was the Lego inspired clutch bag which has been sported by numerous celebrities including Rita Ora and Diane Kruger. The 2.55mm bag is still a best seller as are the Chanel pearl earrings and suit ensembles which come in a range of delicate colours from pastel blue to dramatic black. Chanel has something for everyone. From children to grandparents, minimalists to maximalists, hippies to traditionalists, Americans to the growing Asian market. An iconic brand. An icon heritage. Long live the legendary Karl Lagerfeld. Long live the house of Chanel.