Love is ALL

So Coco

Micha Christos

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

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.

Prototype of the two-tone shoe, CHANEL creation made by

Massaro, circa 1961

Beige kid, black silk satin

Paris, Heritage of CHANEL

Bag 2.55, between 1955 and 1971

Quilted Black Dyed Lambskin, Gold-Tone Metal, Turnstile Clasp

Paris, Heritage of CHANEL

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.

Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / François Kollar

Cocktail dress, Spring-Summer 1959

Black lace from Dognin

Paris, Heritage of CHANEL

“Comète” brooch, “Bijoux de Diamants” jewelry collection,

1932

Platinum, old cut diamonds.

Paris, Heritage of CHANEL

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

Perfume N ° 5, 1921

Glass, black cotton cord, black wax seal, paper printed

Paris, Heritage of CHANEL

Chapeau, between 1913 and 1915

Black braided straw, black silk satin ribbon

Paris, Museum of Decorative Arts