Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto

A landmark publication that highlights the principles and evolution of the timeless Chanel style, the careful crafting of her public image, and the many facets of her lasting legacy

Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel is an icon of fashion, and can lay claim to having invented the look of the 20th century. At the height of the Belle Époque, she stripped women of their corsets and feathers, bobbed their hair, put them in bathing suits and sent them out to get tanned in the sun. She introduced the little black dress; trousers for women; costume jewelry; the exquisitely comfortable suit that became her trademark. Early in the Roaring Twenties, Chanel made the first ever couture perfume – No. 5 – presenting it in the famous little square-cut flagon that, inspired by Picasso and Cubism, became the arch symbol of the Art Deco style. No. 5 remains the most popular scent ever created.

This volume, published to accompany a landmark exhibition in Paris, traces the birth and evolution of Chanel’s timeless style. Specially commissioned photographs by Julien T. Hamon showcase the clothing, while essays by fashion historians illuminate a period, an event or a theme. Rare archival documents, including portraits of Gabrielle Chanel herself, round out the book.

Table of Contents

Introduction • Gabrielle Chanel the Legend, Olivier Saillard, former director of the Palais Galliera; Theatre and fashion: Chanel in the 1910s, Sophie Grossiord, Palais Galliera; The Beginnings of Gabrielle Chanel, Deauville, Biarritz, Miren Arzalluz, Director of Palais Galliera; Sem and Chanel: Building a character, Laurent Cotta, Palais Galliera; Chanel and Cocteau, Claude Arnaud, biographer; Perfumes and cosmetics, Julie Deydier, Chanel, Asset manager; Romanticism in the 1930s, Amy de la Haye, London College of Fashion; Modernism and Dandyism in the Chanel Style, Caroline Evans, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design; Diamond Jewelry, 1932, Marie-Laure Gutton, Palais Galliera; The Chanel tailor, Véronique Belloir, Palais Galliera; Accessories and style coding, Marie-Laure Gutton, Palais Galliera; Gabrielle Chanel and her Doubles, Sylvie Lécallier, Palais Galliera; Chanel and the United States, Alexandra Palmer, Royal Ontario Museum; Chanel and interior architecture, Laurent Cotta, Palais Galliera; Chanel and the Cinema, Marion Langlois and Régis Robert, Cinémathèque de Paris • Illustrated ‘professional’ biography and history of the fashion house • Catalogue