Entering my Chanel dressing era
I really feel this year is my year for sophisticated dressing. I feel like I am in my Chanel dressing era and want to look and dress like the likes of Gabrielle Chanel, Audrey hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. Classic, tailored and just elegant. It is a long and slow process as you want your pieces to be good quality and therefore need to do it gradually for expense reasons. I have focused on the below 10 categories to help me to keep to this look and it has really helped to get my basic starter wardrobe for the way I want to dress and portray myself. They are calling this look 'old school money', which is such a funny term for it if you are just the average person! But it shows how the way you dress can really portray an image to other people. Wearing clothes and accessories without big brands and logos is also included in this trend, much like the quiet luxury and this is great. It means you don't have to break the bank to look like you are dressing like some of the most fashionable and influential women this world has ever seen. Lets take a look at the 10 categories I have chosen, a little bit of history about it and how I recommend you buy into it:
1) Chanel tweed crop jackets/The chanel suit - Gabrielle Chanel loved the masculinity and comfort of menswear and wanted to recreate this for Women. She started with a Cardigan jacket first and then moved onto jackets and skirts, always in tweed and without lapels and collars, giving it a boxy feel. At this time tweed was only being used in Menswear so it was iconic that she started using it for Womenswear. When this was introduced in 1925 it set the groundwork for what we now know as the Chanel jacket and tweed suit. I love wearing my tweed jackets casually with jeans or dresses up with my tailored trousers.
2) Mochrome looks - Black was the colour of mourning and the colour servants wore before Gabrielle Chanel revolutionised the colour by launching her fashion collection and changed the way people saw the colour. For her, black was sharp and complimented other colours such as white, where the monochrome look was born. She loved using white pearls to contrast with black, also a white camellia on hats, dresses or shoes and also loved having a black tip on a beige shoe. These things are still iconic today! She once said, 'When i find a colour darker than black, i'll wear it'. But until then, i'll dress in Black'. Since then another star known for iconically wearing the monochrome look is Audrey Hepburn! If I was to recreate this monochrome look I would go for this urban revivo collared dress or a plain black one and wear pearls and a flower brooch.
3) Ballet pumps - Name me a more iconic shoe than the Chanel ballet pumps..... I'll wait!!! These shoes have never gone out of style and have been on the feet of every glamorous and famous stars and icons you can think of. I can only dream of wearing these and owning them one day. They look so Chic when paired with any outfit, especially a tonal one. Brands have been trying to recreate and make more affordable versions for years. I really like these Aldo ones linked.
4) Shift dresses - The boxy look of clothes on Women is a look that Gabrielle Chanel loved and the shift dress does this well. Audrey hepburn also iconically wore this look with a scarf and pearls and it has been iconic ever since. I love how simple it is and looks great with ballet flats and a top handle bag.
5) Chain and quilted bags - The Chanel classic flap was born in the 1920s when Gabrielle Chanel was tired of carrying her bag on her arm and wanted something to go over her shoulder. From there she created the 2.55. This bag is now known as the classic flap where it has burgundy lining representing the colour of the uniforms in the convent where she grew up, a zippered compartment on the inside of the front flap where it's rumoured she stored her love letters, the diamond quilting and finally the front lock of the two C's which referenced Chanel never marrying. This Russel and Bromley one is beautiful!
6) Pearls - Gabrielle Chanel loved pearls and loved contrasting them with her Black outfits. She believed that Women should have ropes and ropes of pearls and that they should be worn and not hidden away. Audrey hepburn, Jacqueline Kennedy and Princess Diana are just a few Women in history who have also loved wearing pearls.
7) Tailored trousers - Gabrielle Chanel loved wearing trousers, often stealing them from her male lovers. She wanted Women to be able to move in their clothes just like Men could without struggling to breath daily in corsets. She didn't invent the trousers, they had started to be worn by women during World war 1, but she definitely popularised them. She got her influence from the sailors trousers when she visited the french riviera, so her trousers were often loose, straight and wide legs. I love wearing my wide leg trousers with my Chanel style jackets or with a long sleeve stripe top and heels!
8) Hats - Gabrielle Chanel started her whole brand and opened a boutique with her hats in 1910. They were worn by well known French actresses of that era and helped her to build her reputation. To this day hats are used with tailored looks inspired by Gabrielle Coco Chanel to recreate a super chic look. This one linked would look really cute on holiday with either the above wide leg trousers and jumper or the shift dress.
9) Nautical tops - Also influenced from her time in the french riviera and the sailors there, Gabrielle Chanel often wore her wide leg trousers with striped nautical looking tops. She had seen the breton stripes on them and turned it into a fashion trend. I would wear this top with my tailored trousers.
10) The little black dress - In July 1976, Vogue published a picture of Gabrielle Chanels Little black dress and it was calf length and straight, worn with pearls. It was intended to be long lasting, versatile, affordable and widely accessible for all women. It is still iconic and seen as a suitable for all dress, now iconically known as the LBD. It is thought that every women should own a little black dress.
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