Chanel After Chanel

Chanel, a high-end fashion brand which specializes in haute-couture, ready to wear clothing & fashion accessories started back in 1909 in the streets of Paris as a joint business venture between Gabrielle Chanel(Coco Chanel) and a friend of hers Arthur Edward 'Boy' Capel who was a wealthy English Industrialist. The new fashion house intrigued France’s elite and fashion-curious mistresses. Gabrielle’s d­aring ways and a strong sense of fashion brought about almost a revolution in the then world of over-designed and constrictive 19^th century women clothing into that of a luxurious yet comfortable feminine elegance. Driven by a vision for women clothing she even went on to use Jersey, a fabric then used for men’s underwear to drape women on account of its cheap cost at the time of war and its qualities as a garment. With strong ideas that “fashion passes but style remains”, she went about making a big name in the buyer’s market and succeed in fashion business; dominating the fashion world with her double C’s.

But after her death in 1971, Jacques Wertheimer bought the controlling interest of the house of Chanel and hired Karl Lagerfeld to design for the brand and help bring it to newer lines of success & fame. Karl was then working for Chloe; but he quickly grabbed this opportunity. He is primarily held responsible for the opening of additional 40 stores and the business expansion of the brand around the world. As of now Chanel continues to stitch high-quality leather bags & women suits but more with a persona of Karl Lagerfeld than with inspiration from Coco Chanel. What is now speculated upon is that will the brand still be able to carry forward the classique style & bold elegance of Coco Chanel and grow as a legacy or fade into this competitive, ostentatious world of fashion?