So I went back with my carte d'identite/passport to find out what the Chanel exhibit was really about as requested.
I discovered more exhibits upstairs I'd missed first go round.
And more historical information from the audio tape which includes photos too. More about Chanel's romantic entanglements/liaisons.
Plus a reminder that Chanel was first set up as a hatmaker.
Even her hats were revolutionary. Utterly simple compared to what went before. Apollinaire wrote poems about her hats.
Chanel's hats were the cherry on top.
The finishing touch. We've lost so much elegance haven't we.
Catherine di Medici was a heroine to Chanel. She owned this little portrait and followed closely the severity of di Medici's black and white style.
You always see more the second time around don't you?
What was it like to walk in her shoes..?
Or work in her atelier?
Upstairs there's a gazillion reference books to browse on big comfy sofas. And a room to watch all the Chanel N5 videos - a delight.
If you work at the exhibit you get to wear Vans black and white sneakers which are very in again... What would Chanel think?
If you work at the exhibit you get to wear Vans black and white sneakers which are very in again... What would Chanel think?
Incredibly influential! It seems that every famous woman interviewed says the first designer pieces she bought after earning the money...was a Chanel suit!
ReplyDeleteFound 6 macarons for $6.00 today at Whole Foods, all different flavors. Somehow, I resisted. Perhaps I'm losing my touch.
Probably a good thing you resisted
DeleteBet they were 7-grain Whole wheat Macarons
Ha! Ha! Ha! -- hence the price! :-)
Delete-- Veronique (French Girl in Seattle.)
Actually, I've tried the macarons at Whole Foods & they're not too bad - especially if you can't get to Paris to pick some up. They are definately not 7-grain whole wheat,
DeleteOoopla
DeleteI was only kidding...words said in jest ahem
Your painting is off the charts wonderful. I do so wish hats were still in style. Not only do they look oh so chic but I wouldn't have stress out about my hair!
ReplyDeleteHats to cover up bedhead!
DeleteHow right you are Connie
Carol,wonderful post and beautiful sketches today!
ReplyDeleteThank you for going back to the exhibit and sharing with us.
Wow, CC was an awesome Lady! I don't agree with all of her life choices,but applaud her for following her heart/wishes. And No 5 is still one of my favorites (love Patou's Sublime most of all).
Jeanette, you didn't miss anything at Whole Foods.
I wasn't impressed with their macaroons;not impressed with almost any of their deserts,for that matter.Too stingy on sugar and I canNOT get my arms around tough,whole wheat crust(!)
(wonder if it's just our local store?)
Your Chanel bottle is perfection:)
ReplyDeleteI loved the movie..and really.. that is the most I learned..watching that movie..and now..through you:)
My favorite perfume is Coco Chanel. Loved the post and her style.
ReplyDeleteLove the opening sketch & the vintage photos!
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely NOT a fashion maven but boy, I do like exhibits like this -- she was really quite an amazing woman and to be so timeless is something to savor. Must find out more about her lives and passions. I suspect there are many!
ReplyDeleteThere must have been a hundred books on her at the exhibit
DeletePlenty to read for sure!
5 Chanel books in a telegraph review here:
Deletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8838863/Coco-Chanel-Five-books-about-the-fashion-designer-review.html
The fairy-tale remains sufficiently compelling for writers, as well as readers, to wish to make it their own; myriad reinterpretations and variations, all of them woven out of Chanel’s raw material. Given the afterlife of her classic designs that still prevail in her own now globally recognised label, not to mention all the other brands, we should not be surprised; consider the lasting appeal and reinvention of her little black dresses, soft tweed jackets, chain straps on quilted handbags, stripy tops, pearls, camellias.
Each of these can be linked to Chanel’s past: black as the colour of mourning, remade into a symbol of female independence; pearls akin to the rosary beads of the nuns that taught her to pray, and to sew; chains like the ones worn around their waists; white camellias in recognition of La Dame aux camélias, the archetypal courtesan who died of consumption (as did her mother); tweed from the sporting garb of her lover, the Duke of Westminster; sailor stripes and trousers from her Riviera escapades.
This exhibit is on for just One month!! I am going to just miss it...too bad.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I have this and other posts to think about and
wonder.....
thank you for sharing...
Brunie
Maybe because its Free and has a fancy free catalog
DeleteIt's All a promotion stunt really to get peeps thinking of Chanel N.5 again perhaps...
Response to what would Chanel think?
ReplyDeleteI suspect she would opt to return from whence she came.
That "cherry on top" photo is amazing.
Thanks for giving us a window in. K
Who knows?
DeleteShe was Very commercially-minded and might have jumped right in
With a Chanel hip hop video?!
The Chanel exhibit seems spectacular. In my fantasy life, I would be the proud owner of the basic Chanel suit.
ReplyDeleteMy great aunt was an apprentice to Chanel and I could swear that it is my great aunt Georgette sitting right next to Chanel.
Chanel used to rent a summer home for her "girls" at Mont de Marsan not far from Arcachon. My great aunt loved it there.
I am so glad that you are having a great time in Paris, your latest about the caneles was mouth watering. I make them for my children here
and I have to say that baking them is really tricky.
Have a canele for me!
Laurie
This was fab....I love Chanel style, I wonder what she would think of some of the junk they are producing under her name. There are some real ugly handbags and clothes that she would never design...
ReplyDeleteLynne
What a treat. I am a huge Chanel fans, as the pile of coffee table books lined up in my hallway attest... :-) I would love to go and see this exhibit. Do we know how long it runs? Veronique (French Girl in Seattle)
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting you posted this today…I had lunch with a lady who knew CoCo well (worked with her in the first oceanfront atelier de Biarritz), needles to say a fascinating conversation. Seamstresses were considered very well trained in the Basque Country (ha! ALL the nuns!) and so designers located their ateliers here; Chanel in Biarritz, Balenciaga in Getaria
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6g6mo_petite-histoire-de-la-mode-a-biarri_creation#.UaCvSY62Q20
DeleteWhat would Chanel think?
ReplyDeletecette ici:
Affreux, vulgare, pas d'prestige