The famous mirrored staircase inside Coco Chanel’s apartment at 31 Rue Cambon, Paris. Photo: Francois Halard, courtesy of Chanel.

Considered to be one of the most influential designers of the twentieth century, Gabrielle Chanel, affectionately known as Coco, introduced a language of modernity into fashion that still resonates today. With the opening of her first fashion boutique in Deauville in 1912, then her couture house at 31 Rue Cambon in Paris in 1918, Coco began to reform women’s wardrobes by creating a new code of dress that privileged comfort, function and elegance, and responded to the growing desire for greater social freedoms among women.

As a fashion loving city, it is fitting that Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto makes its first international outing in Melbourne after its premiere in Paris. The exhibition, imagined by the Palais Galliera, the Fashion Museum of the City of Paris kicked off at NGV last week, on the 4th of December 2021.

The corner of the study. Photo: Francois Halard, courtesy of Chanel.The entrance. Photo: Francois Halard, courtesy of Chanel.

Unfolding across several chronological and thematic sections, the show explores Chanel’s design codes through a display of more than 100 garments that trace a truly remarkable career. Highlights include early examples of her use of black to connote modernity and chic; delicate lace gowns; wool jersey and tailored tweed suits; dazzling beaded garments; and bold costume jewellery.

Alongside the garments is an insight into Coco’s interiors, displaying how her fashion sense was intrinsically linked with the style of her homes—namely her apartment at 31 Rue Cambon that sits atop the flagship boutique, the epicentre of the Chanel world and the symbol of the house’s style and its timeless elegance.

Chanel combined the beige of roughcast with glossy black window blinds in the same way as the two-tone leather of a pair of pumps; she turned a quilted suede cushion into her 2.55 bag; she used the same warm, neutral and natural shades as the basis for her interiors and for the tweed fabrics of her suits. The glitter of the chandeliers and the vermeil boxes lit up her interiors in the same way that her jewellery enlivened her clothes, according to the mood of the moment.

CHANEL (designer) / Massaro (maker) Prototype for two-tone shoe c. 1961 kidskin, silk satin Patrimoine de CHANEL, Paris Photo © Julien T. Hamon.Gabrielle Chanel (designer) ‘2.55’ bag c. 1955–71 quilted lambskin, gilt metal, swivel clasp Patrimoine de CHANEL, Paris Photo © Julien T. Hamon.

Of her interiors, of which her iconic apartment in rue Cambon still stands, she said “All my art has consisted of cutting away what others have added.” Her concept for a garment or an interior was always based on a structure of the strictest simplicity, governed by notions of freedom and comfort—vital luxuries in Chanel’s eyes. This was the basis for her vision of an updated form of classicism.

With this rational and functional base in position, decorative elements could then be added. Accessories, furniture and objects were arranged sparingly, rejecting any kind of hierarchy between things that were costly and things that cost next to nothing: Chanel combined precious stones with costume jewellery, placed vermeil boxes alongside dried ears of corn, retouched the gilding on her lacquer screens herself, arranged bronze sculptures on the floor and treated objects worthy of a cabinet of wonders as if they were holiday souvenirs.

Gabrielle Chanel (designer) Dress spring–summer 1971 ivory figured organza, gold lamé Palais Galliera, Paris Gift of Chanel CHANEL (designer) / Robert Goossens (maker) Belt spring–summer 1971 gilded metal, red and green glass, imitation pearls Patrimoine de CHANEL, Paris Photo © Julien T. Hamon.Gabrielle Chanel (designer) Evening dress spring–summer 1955 silk chiffon Patrimoine de CHANEL, Paris Photo © Julien T. Hamon.

Gabrielle Chanel (designer) Evening dress c. 1923–26 (detail) silk crêpe, tube and diamanté embroidery, lamé, tulle embroidered with gold thread Patrimoine de CHANEL, Paris Photo © Julien T. Hamon.

CHANEL (couture house) / Gabrielle Chanel (designer) Suit comprising jacket, skirt and blouse spring–summer 1966 (detail) overpainted wool, raw silk, gilt-gold metal National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Presented through The Art Foundation of Victoria by Mrs Angela Wood, Member, 2000 Photo: Narelle Wilson, NGV.

“By bringing together all the facets of an exceptional creativity, this exhibition throws new light on Gabrielle Chanel’s stylistic legacy,” said Bruno Pavlovsky, President of Chanel Fashion. “A rebel at heart, she transposed her personal needs, audacity and freedom into creations that reflected her personality and that she initially made for herself. Her demands—comfort, functionality, simplicity—subsequently became those of all women. For the first time, fashion reflected the aspirations of women, the changes to come in their lives and the evolution of their place in society. Ephemeral in essence, with Gabrielle Chanel fashion, became perennial. By breaking away from the standards of her time, her codes and stylistic vocabulary have endured.”

This special event is now on display at NGV International, Melbourne, until 25 April 2022. For more information click here.

[Images courtesy of National Gallery of Victoria and CHANEL.]

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