It is not the first time that Chanel’s legacy has been on display. It’s not the first time for Gabrielle Chanel either. fashion manifesto opens its doors. Originally curated by the Spanish Miriam Arzalluz for the Parisian Palais Galliera, it now welcomes thousands of visitors every day (tickets are usually sold out weeks in advance) at the Victoria
For the first time, a retrospective of the designer who changed women’s clothing forever by appropriating what was exclusive to men focuses on both her lights and shadows, from the stay in the orphanage that marked her personality forever to her collaboration with the Nazis and her participation in the resistance during the occupation of Paris, a two-sided game that shows that it was not the traumas of childhood or the hardships of the first years of her adult life that were about to end her , it was his own survival instinct.
In addition to the unpublished documents that trace her political profile, the exhibition, which explores what she experienced from her early years until her death in 1971, also draws an intimate portrait of Chanel: her friendship with Churchill, her romance with the Duke of Westminster and the love of her life with Boy Capel.
His life was also his career, and that is why among the more than 200 garments exhibited (60 of them had never been presented to the public) are the first evening pants with which he scandalized Parisian society, suits made for Lauren Bacall or Marlene Dietrich, part of the costumes he created for the Russian ballet of Le train bleu in 1924 and two looks from his last collection presented in 1971.
Divided into ten sections that explore the innovative approach with which it approached silhouettes, fabrics and the construction of garments, the Sainsbury gallery houses the brand’s most famous objects: the 2.55 bag, the two-piece suits tweed – in addition to collaborating in the development of this material, Chanel also did so with British lace, wool and cotton manufactures -, high-heeled shoes in two colors or the Chanel Nº5 perfume. An immersion in a perfectly documented version of the life and career of the most famous designer in the world. Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto can be visited at the V
