The Palais Galliera is a permanent fashion museum in Paris, established in 1977 in a C19th building commissioned by Duchesse de Galliera. This museum displays French fashion designs from the C18th on. See garments owned by Marie-Antoinette, Louis XVII and the Empress Joséphine, and important designer pieces by Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy and Yves Saint Laurent.
With the opening of her first boutique in Deauville in 1912, then her couture house on 31 Rue Cambon in Paris in 1918, Coco Chanel (1883–1971) began to reform women’s ward-robes by creating a new code of dress that focused on comfort, function and elegance, and responded to women’s growing need for social freedoms.
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When the Belle Époque peaked, Chanel destroyed women’s rib-breaking corsets, bobbed their hair, put them in bathing suits and sent them outside for sunshine! She introduced the little black dress; trousers for women; costume jewellery; and her trademark comfortable suit. Early in the Roaring 20s, Chanel made the first ever couture Perfume #5 in the little square-cut flagon that, inspired by Picasso and Cubism, became a symbol of the Art Deco style.
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Chanel suits, NGV Melbourne
Broadsheet 2021
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L]Dress and jacket c1926–7 silk canvas.
Patrimoine de Chanel, Paris.
R]dress 1960 embroidered cotton, lamé, organdie.
Palais Galliera, Paris. Qantas
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Chanel handbag and chain
Key designs in the Melbourne exhibition were drawn from the Palais Galliera collection and from Patrimoine de Chanel, the heritage collections of the fashion house in Paris. Other works came from public museums eg the NGV, and from private collections. Miren Arzalluz, Director of Palais Galliera and exhibition curator, discussed Chanel’s subtle elegance that shuns extravagances, a timeless style for the new woman. That was her fashion manifesto, a legacy that has never gone out of style. Arzalluz repeated that Chanel’s success was based on 1] functionality, 2] comfort, 3] chic elegance of her designs and 4] her ability to interpret the desires of women.
So the Melbourne exhibition spanned nine sections organised chronologically and thematically, and illustrated the spirit of freedom and defiance that typified her design language. For example Chanel’s designs used a restrained luxury that reduced decoration and allowed women to move easily. She pioneered the use of wool jersey and tailored tweed suits, drawing inspiration from menswear and sportswear.
A further exhibition highlight is a display of iconic Chanel suits. Debuted originally in the 1910s and reintroduced after the re-opening of her haute couture house in 1954, the 2 or 3-piece suit in lightweight woven tweed still remains a feature of the collections. Popularised by the likes of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Princess Grace de Monaco, Marlene Dietrich and Lauren Bacall, the Chanel suit quickly became the embodiment of sophistication and functionalism, defined by its tailored lines, and ease of movement, and clever use of gilt buttons and braiding.
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NGV Melbourne
Victorian Minister for Creative Industries, Danny Pearson, reiterated that as Melbourne is the fashion centre of Australia, it is appropriate that the exhibition should be there. Unique exhibitions attract visitors from right across the nation, boosting local tourism and encouraging fashion lovers to flock to Melbourne. Bruno Pavlovsky, President of Chanel Fashion said: ‘A rebel at heart, Chanel transposed her personal needs, audacity and freedom into creations that reflected her personality and that she initially made for herself. Her demands for comfort, functionality and simplicity subsequently became those of all women”.
See A Fashion Manifesto by Miren Arzalluz (ed). Essays by fashion historians illuminate an era, event or theme. Rare archival documents and portraits of Gabrielle Chanel herself, complete the book.
With the opening of her first boutique in Deauville in 1912, then her couture house on 31 Rue Cambon in Paris in 1918, Coco Chanel (1883–1971) began to reform women’s ward-robes by creating a new code of dress that focused on comfort, function and elegance, and responded to women’s growing need for social freedoms.
Chanel at work, wearing a suit
The Guardian
When the Belle Époque peaked, Chanel destroyed women’s rib-breaking corsets, bobbed their hair, put them in bathing suits and sent them outside for sunshine! She introduced the little black dress; trousers for women; costume jewellery; and her trademark comfortable suit. Early in the Roaring 20s, Chanel made the first ever couture Perfume #5 in the little square-cut flagon that, inspired by Picasso and Cubism, became a symbol of the Art Deco style.
Broadsheet 2021
Patrimoine de Chanel, Paris.
R]dress 1960 embroidered cotton, lamé, organdie.
Palais Galliera, Paris. Qantas
Equally captivating: the gowns associated with Chanel’s so-called romantic era of the 1930s. Dedicated sections of the exhibition showcase Chanel’s use of floral motifs, seen as printed textiles and her skilfully manipulated lace evening wear. Chanel devoted her career to creating, perfecting and promoting a new type of real women’s elegance, based on the reality of women’s lives. Her key beliefs: a design style based on comfort, streamlined simplicity and ease of movement that became her model for modern living.
After opening in Palais Galliera in 2020, the exhibition Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto moved to Australia from Dec 2021-Apr 2022, the first exhibition in Australia to exclusively focus on this renowned C20th French couturière. The exhibition explores Coco Chanel’s design codes through a display of 100+ garments from across her career. Highlights include early examples of her use of black to connote modernity and chic; dazzling beaded garments; bold costume jewellery; accessories, cosmetics and perfumes. This helps us appreciate Chanel’s impact on C20th womenswear and her redefinition of modernity.
Note the first composite and abstract perfume, Chanel #5, created in 1921; cosmetics; and the highly decorative costume jewellery that combined precious and semi-precious materials. The exhibition also examines the design codes Chanel introduced in the early 1950s eg quilted 2.55 bags with shoulder chains.
Note the first composite and abstract perfume, Chanel #5, created in 1921; cosmetics; and the highly decorative costume jewellery that combined precious and semi-precious materials. The exhibition also examines the design codes Chanel introduced in the early 1950s eg quilted 2.55 bags with shoulder chains.
Early 1950s, Guardian
The exhibition explores Chanel’s design codes so we can examine her impact on women’s wear over the C20th, and consider the legacy of her designs in contemporary culture. A radical departure from the elaborate fashions of the Belle Epoque and Edwardian eras in France and UK!!
Key designs in the Melbourne exhibition were drawn from the Palais Galliera collection and from Patrimoine de Chanel, the heritage collections of the fashion house in Paris. Other works came from public museums eg the NGV, and from private collections. Miren Arzalluz, Director of Palais Galliera and exhibition curator, discussed Chanel’s subtle elegance that shuns extravagances, a timeless style for the new woman. That was her fashion manifesto, a legacy that has never gone out of style. Arzalluz repeated that Chanel’s success was based on 1] functionality, 2] comfort, 3] chic elegance of her designs and 4] her ability to interpret the desires of women.
So the Melbourne exhibition spanned nine sections organised chronologically and thematically, and illustrated the spirit of freedom and defiance that typified her design language. For example Chanel’s designs used a restrained luxury that reduced decoration and allowed women to move easily. She pioneered the use of wool jersey and tailored tweed suits, drawing inspiration from menswear and sportswear.
A further exhibition highlight is a display of iconic Chanel suits. Debuted originally in the 1910s and reintroduced after the re-opening of her haute couture house in 1954, the 2 or 3-piece suit in lightweight woven tweed still remains a feature of the collections. Popularised by the likes of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Princess Grace de Monaco, Marlene Dietrich and Lauren Bacall, the Chanel suit quickly became the embodiment of sophistication and functionalism, defined by its tailored lines, and ease of movement, and clever use of gilt buttons and braiding.
Victorian Minister for Creative Industries, Danny Pearson, reiterated that as Melbourne is the fashion centre of Australia, it is appropriate that the exhibition should be there. Unique exhibitions attract visitors from right across the nation, boosting local tourism and encouraging fashion lovers to flock to Melbourne. Bruno Pavlovsky, President of Chanel Fashion said: ‘A rebel at heart, Chanel transposed her personal needs, audacity and freedom into creations that reflected her personality and that she initially made for herself. Her demands for comfort, functionality and simplicity subsequently became those of all women”.
See A Fashion Manifesto by Miren Arzalluz (ed). Essays by fashion historians illuminate an era, event or theme. Rare archival documents and portraits of Gabrielle Chanel herself, complete the book.