PALAIS GALLIERA
Paris
October 1st, 2020- March 14, 2021
GABRIELLE CHANEL
Fashion manifesto
Richard Avedon.
Gabrielle Chanel and Suzy Parker dressed by Chanel,
Paris, January 1959
© The Richard Avedon Foundation
Gabrielle Chanel has spent her life creating a new idea of the woman in motion, free, natural and jaunty.
Her timeless style remains current in its modernity. The Palais Galliera, thanks to its reopening after its extension works, is dedicating a superb retrospective to the extent of its excessiveness, without extravagance, with perfect elegance.
From the start of her career until the end of her life in 1971, she opposed the fashion archetypes of her day.
She knew how to appropriate and interpret the functional and sober masculine wardrobe. Her legendary suit was born from this dandy notion of comfort in the flexibility of jersey and tweed. Since the 1910s, her little black dress has been a true essential icon that defies ephemeral fashions.
William Klein.
Dorothy and Little Bara dressed as a priest.
Published in Vogue, October 1960.
© William Klein
Prototype of the two-tone shoe, CHANEL creation made by
Massaro, circa 1961
Beige kid, black silk satin
Paris, Heritage of CHANEL
© Julien T. Hamon
Bag 2.55, between 1955 and 1971
Quilted Black Dyed Lambskin, Gold-Tone Metal, Turnstile Clasp
Paris, Heritage of CHANEL
© Julien T. Hamon
Henry Clarke.
Anne Sainte Marie in a Chanel suit.
Photograph published in Vogue UK, October 1955
Paris Museums © Henry Clarke, Musée Galliera / Adagp, Paris 2020
Clean shapes, fair and daring use of colors and technical materials characterize the signature of her style, recognizable at first glance.
In the ancient lineage, she plays the accessory card in opulence, a magnificent contrast to the purity of her creations. She wears jewelry in abundance but with accuracy and refinement. A living legend, she cleverly maintained her myth and created an iconic wardrobe that she marked with her scent essence and her famous replicas.
Fascinating and mysterious, she took pleasure in nurturing the true and false stories that shaped her own mythology.
Francois Kollar.
Coco Chanel in her apartment at the Ritz for Harper’s Bazaar, Paris.
© Ministry of Culture - Multimedia Library of Architecture and Heritage,
Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / François Kollar
Cocktail dress, Spring-Summer 1959
Black lace from Dognin
Paris, Heritage of CHANEL
© Julien T. Hamon
“Comète” brooch, “Bijoux de Diamants” jewelry collection,
1932
Platinum, old cut diamonds.
Paris, Heritage of CHANEL
© Julien T. Hamon
Her complex personality has offered wonderful subjects for debate and controversy which even today arouse renewed interest in this muse consecrated on the altar of fashion as one of the most influential designers of the 20th century.
This first retrospective in Paris allows us to discover her professional career since the birth of her style and her codes to analyze their evolution over time.
From Gabrielle Chanel to Coco,
a real manifesto.
{Left} Evening dress, Spring-Summer 1955
Red chiffon
Paris, Heritage of CHANEL
{Right} Evening dress, fall-winter 1970-1971
Red chiffon
Paris, Palais Galliera
© Julien T. Hamon
Perfume N ° 5, 1921
Glass, black cotton cord, black wax seal, paper printed
Paris, Heritage of CHANEL
© Julien T. Hamon
Chapeau, between 1913 and 1915
Black braided straw, black silk satin ribbon
Paris, Museum of Decorative Arts
© Julien T. Hamon