Runway Critiques - Chanel

Chanel is one of the most timeless brands of all time. Started by Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, she started selling Hats in her own boutique in Paris, France. She lost her mother when she was 10 years old and became an orphan under the care of Nuns who taught her how to sew. Her passion for creating and sewing took off once she opened her hat boutique she started making clothing as well. In the 1920's she came out with her first perfume Chanel No. 5 which is one of the most timeless perfumes ever.

Her classic designs of the woman's suit and the little black dress became staples in every women's closet. Before Chanel's designs, taking inspiration from menswear was not ever seen for womenswear, women wearing collard jackets and black dresses was frowned upon. Until Chanel made these timeless pieces something that is forever favored by women for 100 years, women never wore black unless they were going to a funeral, and women were to never wear something that was "masculine" like a suit coat. Her tweed jackets and Quilted shoulder bags are universally recognized and sought after.

When World War 3 devastated the whole world, Chanel shut down all her shops and moved to Switzerland for a while. It wasn't until the 1950s that Chanel returned to designing, when she first came back critics were not shy to tear apart her designs and try to bring her down, but her feminine and easy fitting designs won over women all over the world. While Germany was occupying France, Chanel was seen with a Nazi military officer, which was seen as a big betrayal to her home country of France. She was interrogated for possible involvement with the Nazi's but was never charged.

A decade after her death in 1971, Karl Lagerfeld took Coco's portion as head designer for Chanel. Karl kept her legacy of a timeless haute couture brand alive until he passed away in 2019. The brand is now privately owned by the Wertheimer family, keeping the brand striving and generating millions of dollars every year.

The most recent collection debuted just a couple of days ago in France, with only one guest in attendance, Kristen Stewart. 67 gorgeous looks were debuted for the Pre-fall 2021 collection.

Video is from Chanel Official Twitter page (https://twitter.com/CHANEL/status/1334560478585122819)

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Paris

Pre-Fall 2021

Look 1 -

Starting off with the sweater, The detailed motif on the sleeves perfectly match the color of grey-ish white tone in the skirt. The sweater looks like a soft mohair. I really like how long the cuffs of the sweater are which makes the illusion that the sleeves are puffier than they really are. The skirt is a tweed patterned maxi skirt with an overload of fringe, that adds a lot of movement when the model is walking the runway. I love the mix matched checkerboard print in the skirt and how well it works with the floral pattern on the sleeve of the sweater. The belt buckle is a gorgeous rectangular pearl belt which completes the look with a very Chanel touch of pearls.

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Look 2 -

I love this more badass look with a Leather Jacket that is slightly oversized and quilted pattern on the breast of the color which leather quilting is also a trademark Chanel design. The over the top pearls and chains takes over so much of the models décolletage, it almost makes it look like it’s a shirt. Although the real shirt which is hidden under the leather jacket looks to be a simple tie front top. The leather pants are perfectly loose fitting in all the right places. Last of all the shoes which seem to be worn by almost all of the models for this collection, they are a classic signature of Chanel as well with a two tone difference with the tip of the shoe, and gold glitter.

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Look 3 -

This outfit is the only one I happened to pick with color. I was so drawn to the mustard yellow cardigan with yet another matching cardigan over the top. The pattern that was knit into this cardigan set is a simple leaf pattern almost resembling the same pattern as the sleeves on the first look. I was most drawn to the skirt of this look with every other panel of fabric being sheer polka dots. It makes the top cardigan look like a romper underneath the sheer black fabric. We can also see this model wearing a classic black Chanel bag with gold hardware and it almost looks like a velvet bag which would be a gorgeous twist on the classic leather quilted Chanel bag.

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Look 4 -

This is probably my favorite look in the collection. I love the rounded square neckline of the top of the gown. If you look closely you can see gold metal appliqués sewn to the top that resemble previous Chanel buttons. The bottom of this outfit is a pair of black velvet pants that match the velvet in the top making me think this look is almost like a catsuit with the top and the bottoms connected with a tulle half skirt tied around the waist.

I love the slit in the front of the bottom of the pants, I think the tight fit of the pants that goes past the model's ankle, while the slit revels more of her ankles, is a great choice with a full skirt. The skirt portion of this outfit looks to have different feathers on each tier of the tulle. On the top tier of the skirt you can see a pattern that looks like the quilted pattern on Chanel bags, I didn't realize this small detail until I really looked closely at the image. There also looks to be gold beads at the top of each feather where it was applied to the dress. Chanel Couture is something I could spend hours looking at and admiring the details in each and every garment.

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Look 5 -

This outfit is a fun new twist to the classic Chanel tweed jacket being fully off the shoulders, with a gold appliqué applied to the top of the neckline. I love the textured belt with the CC logo. Again we see velevt pants with gold metal buttons sewn all over them just like the top part of the last look. The pants are a velvet pattern which works really well with the textured top and belt. These shoes are the first shoes I notice that were different than the rest, but I thin kthe all black shoes really help the small gold details shine through more.

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Look 6 -

This last look I choose because of the top part of the look. I love the necklace she has on, it reminds me of the infamous collar necklaces Ruth Bader Gingsburg would've worn. I love that parts of the necklace create a cap sleeve effect over the long sleeve top. and her earrings match the coral floral piece in the center of the necklace which is hard to see because of the patter of the top. The bottom half looks pretty matronly, and I feel like a slightly shorter, more fitted skirt wouldve been more well suited with the top part of this outfit. The shoes as well, I feel like wouldve been cooler if they were a strappy black shoe or the same shoes as the model in look 5.

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Detail Shots -

I wanted to include these images just to show how insane every detail of a Chanel look is.

The first photo is along the lines of a more classic Chanel tweed jacket with a chain trim along the top of the breast pockets and the hem of the sleeves. This chain with ribbon stung between each chain is commonly known with the classic Chanel handle.

The second photo shows an unclose of one of their bags with a stunning 3D rose pattern, as well as a miniature Chanel bag attached the front as almost a coin purse. I love how the chain of the smaller bag disappears within the texture of the bigger red bag. Here we can also see a knit skirt with a floral pattern and the center of each flower has the classic CC pattern.

The third photo shows an up-close of some bracelets on one of the model, I love the black and white diamond/pearl combination and the oversized Chanel charms.

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All photos are from https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/pre-fall-2021/chanel/slideshow/collection

All information is from https://www.biography.com/fashion-designer/coco-chanel