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 19th 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?
