Adding in that yes, Chanel is still being idolized today. There are museum exhibits that opened in the last few years, new movies/series that include her, and so much more. Just last September someone came out with documents attempting to prove she was part of the French Resistance (which were questionable at best: www.france24.com/en/europe/20231127-historian-debunks-claims-that-coco-chanel-served-in-the-french-resistance ). I'm not doing this video to "destroy a woman who worked hard". This is to stop glorifying one that took the credit from those that did. The House of Premet is largely unknown, but maybe if they were properly credited with 1920s style, jersey knit, or the LBD that would be a familiar name instead. We can't just separate art from artist (even if it was her art)- the willingness to lie to get ahead, actively harming others in the process, is buried in her work.
@@Wee_Catalyst did you see your name, @Wee_Catalyst, as a prefix to any of my comments to Nicole? No, you did not. Demonstrate some self control toward your keyboard please. The world does not need to hear your every thought.
@@jori7398 I could say the same about you and your thoughts about supporting evil people because you like the way their art makes you feel-the world doesn’t need to hear those thoughts Why don’t YOU demonstrate some self-control before advising others to do something you yourself seem incapable of doing?
My gran and few other poor ladies got their stuff stolen by a rich " textile artist", well at age 85 my gran got her revenge. There was big textile expo about this woman and my gran knew that all the ladies had hidden their initials in their original works and told the guide who made what and showed it, next week the expo was shut down and instead there was one about home textiles.
Thank you so much for this. I'm a fashion student in university and it really frustrates me to see how many of her unsubstantiated claims are taught as if they were fact. Whenever she's brought up in our curriculum she's talked about as if she singlehandedly invented modern fashion (and her connections to the nazis are barely brushed over). I really appreciate that you did so much research and debunked a lot of those myths.
This! Drives me nuts. I've just marked dozens of essays on Chanel which all avoided her problematic side. Everyone basically said she single-handedly liberated women 🤷🏼♀️
The fact the she kept seeing the Nazi well into the 50's is so disgusting. A horizontal collaborater, is what they where called. I no longer look up to her when I found out about that. So, very disappointing.
@@theguest4516 other women were destroyed for colluding with Nazis even though invading soldiers don't tend to ask for consent. Can't believe she still gets a pass for being "influential".
I love the story about CoCo dancing with Elsa at a costume Christmas party while Elsa was dressed like a chandelier equipped with actual candles and CoCo danced her directly into a dry Christmas tree so Elsa would catch the tree on fire. They sound like a fun maybe a bit dangerous bunch.
One of the most striking things I've ever read about Coco Chanel is that (paraphrasing) she was anti-Semitic to a degree that was considered unseemly even by the standards of 1930s Europe. Which is astounding when you really think about it.
My French teacher grew up in a village in the north of France after the war. She remembered the women in the village who hooked up with German soldiers during the war had their heads shaved as a sign of their collaboration. As a mature woman, was still bitter that, “…not a hair of Coco Chanel’s head was touched.”
@@JB-vd8bi Nazi's targeted Jewish people specifically, I don't think they would let a Jewish woman go in exchange for r*ping her. I don't believe the women that were targeted by nazis had the option, the women not targeted by nazis though might get something out of hooking up, a la Chanel.
I'm a liaison librarian for a fashion faculty, and there are so many Chanel books in our collection. there is an element in the faculty that absolutely worship Chanel. There are so many books that straight up apologise or completely ignore her ww2 actions and other behaviours towards her staff. I've only been in the role 18 months and am working hard to balance out the collection.
Doing great work, I find Chanel fascinating and her style intriguing alongside her ability to build such a business in that time period. But I acknowledge she appears to be a very flawed person and that should be documented fairly in accounts of her history.
Nichole, I appreciate your design videos, but for me this is one of your most important ones. There have been several facts lost to the hype surrounding her career: her anti-Semitism; her pro-Nazi support; her treatment of the women and men responsible for the production of her garments; her claims which obfuscate the origins of fashion trends and her own beginnings. She was a woman ahead (somewhat) of her time in that she knew how to manipulate her public image to suit her purposes. During an interview on television, Karl Lagerfeld was openly critical of her attitude and behavior. Even given that nice women seldom make history, would rather see one that actually did those things that made history. Thanks for your video.
I hadn't heard about the mistreatment of her garment makers ... but it doesn't surprise me. Slave labor and/or toxic conditions and low pay have been a part of the industry for a long time.
@@lordfreerealestate8302 well the whole world really, still a problem today across most industries. It's not a problem for everyone but we are nowhere near Labor's full rights, empowerment and equality.
A suisse investigation found out, that the logo of Chanel was not her invention. It was the logo of the Chateau de Cremat, which was owned by a rich female friend of Gabrielle Chanel. Probably the saw the power of such a logo for a brand like hers and changed her name, so she could use it for her business.
I can't deny she had a unique personal style, but she really only designed for her body type, and frankly, designing clothes that are just straight lines and two colours doesn't require a lot of skill. As a person, well, she was a monster.
@@ArtByEmilyHareIt’s not her style but rather her approach to style that many find interesting in my view. It’s having clothes and bags that aren’t so feminine and if you think about the time she lived in it was signature to her. I see successful women wearing similar “Chanel jackets” today but fashion has evolved so much and today we are spoilt with choice. It’s great but also has huge drawbacks in my view.
@@Coastpsych_fi99having more choice creates more drawbacks? How so? I think for women who don’t suit one particular style (like for instance someone with a curvy body like mine not suiting straight styles like 1920’s) it’s great to have a large choice
@@LightYagami-xl1wzI love the cocoon coats but not the waistless dresses on me as my bottom half is two sizes bigger than my top so it doesn’t work on my shape at all
Everything I've ever read about Coco Chanel seemed to indicate that she wasn't an especially pleasant person, in general. She sold an image which, I suspect, was really just masking an unhappy person. Oh, and IMO, none of the Chanel scents are pleasant - especially No. 5.
You’ve only tried the degraded American versions. The French made are amazing. Synthetics vs actual flower oils. Remember - proffessional perfumers made those and Chanel’s name happened to be on them. Don’t dis an entire industry for taking a gig, it just seems silly. That you hadn’t thought through whose work that really is.
@@elizabethclaiborne6461 🤣🤣🤣 Please keep telling us strangers on the internet in blanket sweeping statements that we’ve never tried something and at the same time assume we’re all Americans who have never smelled or bought perfume from anywhere other than America . . . I understand that you’re unhappy with the supposed dog piling on the perfume which of course was designed by an actual perfumer/team of them and not Chanel but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s not a universally appealing scent
@@elizabethclaiborne6461 Are you aware that you're gaslighting? That's what you're doing when you tell someone else what they have or haven't done when you have no idea what experience they're speaking from. People are allowed to have different preferences from you. It doesn't make them wrong or silly. Preferences are personal. It isn't dissing an entire industry to have a preference. That's why the industry exists and not just one product.
@@biguattipoptropica She had to do, and a lot, in the perfume. The Wertheimer owned 70% of the capital of "Parfums Chanel", but they were just businessmen, even though they also owned Bourjois. It is a bit as if you were saying that Bernard Arnault is a fashion creator because he owns Dior…. The creation of the N°5 was made by Ernest Beaux, at the request of Gabrielle Chanel. The Wertheimers never interfered.
I once saw footage of Coco Chanel appearing on a French talk show, where she was bombastic, egotistical and contrary. I particularly remember her aggressive diatribe against the suggestion that a woman could hold her own without wearing perfume. She was born in a time and place when only a man could be regarded as truly successful, accomplished or exceptional and therefore regarded herself as an honorary man, just like other narcissistic self creators who imagined they had escaped or transcended their own sex, like Ayn Rand. She certainly didn't feel any affinity for other women, who were at best, competition.
agree w everything you said but one: a lot of women where kinda forced to present themselves as honorary men to get taken seriously. and also it was for a lot the only way they knew to feel empowered... even though it is the direct contrary of how we feel today, i kinda understand the sentiment as i felt like that being little, the only way to be seen as a person and not like a dumb little thing was to act like a guy and almost despise feminine women who made me feel like they where feeding the dumb girl stereotype, obviously i know better now and i know it was dumb but i can't imagine how it must have been at the time, regardless, coco chanel in particular was a true enemy to women and never someone we should look up to and im happy this type of videos are made now.
@@IrishAnnie Not to give him anh praise, but, men's hair oil had been a problem for over 100 years at that point. There's a reason the antimacassar became a thing.
I was a Chanel sales advisor in Paris for a while. And even though I loved my job and the team was wonderful, it was clear to me the brand was struggling to find its modern style with the old fashioned codes of the House, no matter how many there were. People rightfully find the brand outdated, and most of what we sold were the classic handbags and shoes, who were timeless and frankly stunning
I so appreciate the amount of research you do for these videos. I knew about her being a n@zi sympathizer, but not about her lack of "innovation" nor her terrible treatment of her staff! She really girlbossed her way to the top in the grossest way
ALSO SCHIAPARELLI STAYS UNPROBLEMATIC, on that alone makes her better than chanel's uninspired corny self her amazing designs and knowlege of it makes her better
I find it amazing that so many people actually are surprised by the lies. You do not gain that type offame or fortune in the fashion industry by being an honest person. Especially in that time of history.
My mother was a fashion model in the 1950's. She always followed the notion of before leaving the house, look in the mirror and remove one item. This applied to jewelry, not clothing. She certainly did not invent this phrase or concept. She worked with many designers. It's impossible to know where the phrase can from. Sadly, she died ten years ago so I cannot ask her. Thank you for an interesting vlog!
Excellent and I am French, all what you said is true. People forget how anti-Jews she could be. Vuitton, the brand, was also horrible during the last world war. Thank you for your researches and this video.
To everyone who feels like they lost a hero: Check out Josephine Baker!! If you haven't heard of her already, she was an amazing Black actress and singer who also part of the real French Resistance. Her outfits were also gorgeous! She's the REAL fashion icon and heroine that we should celebrate!!
Coco Chanel should be credited alongside Eddie Bernays with the creation of modern marketing. She was a genius at it and, in many ways, an innovator. That's where her true talent lay. She was her own product. Getting financed by a series of wealthy, powerful sugar daddies who broke up with her on good terms was genius.
As time has revealed, also the same applies to Royalty who are supposed to be better than the rest of us, in intelligence and moral character, appointed supposedly by God.
And while being poor doesn't automatically mean being of gold heart, only that the tiniest of slips - real or perceived - are punished fully and harshly while rotten character in rich and famous is allowed to progress, rot and fester...
When I was a teenager, I used to assist a florist who'd decorate the homes of the very wealthy. From personal experience and what I heard from their house staff, I learned a valuable lesson (and witnessed throughout life), wealth does not equate class, not at all.
No. It's only that money reveals your real self. Some stop playing nice for survival, others start giving back, and usually the second ones are more discreet.
Re: "take one thing off" I first came across the concept in a sewing manual published in the 1960s (The Bishop Method of Clothing Construction, Revised edition 1959, 1966). The author presents it as common knowledge, which suggests a provenance of at least a few decades at that point.
Relatedly, I was given an early 60s girls' annual as a tween and it had the advice "don't ever wear bracelets on both arms at once." I often remember that. (I wear bracelets on both arms. Also "don't wear rings at all until you're engaged" didn't stick either lol)
@@flux.aeternaAbby Cox did one. I live in Spencer, MA where one of the investors who actually got royalties was born. If you look up Elias Howe. His brothers were also inventors! Their home had sewn fabric wall paper from the machine. Sadly all that is left now is the foundation.
In addition to all of this, when it comes to La Garconne, all the people mentioned and trends of the time, the hairdresser Antoine de Paris is a way understated figure. Come on, he invented the garconne short haircut, which Coco adopted and claimed she cut her own hair (debatable for many reasons). Also he did collab with Elsa Schiaparelli for fashionable hair+clothes looks, and happened to be a more famous (during their lifetime) neighbour of Chanel (and they weren't very fond of each other). Sadly his fame and influence faded enough that afaik there are no english-language works on his life, I found only a biography in polish.
I LOVE Antoine! A few of the old video channels I follow post his hair work from the 1930s-60s. Just gorgeous and so creative. I didn't know his backstory, though! Putting that in my research pocket for later. Thank you!
Antoine of Paris I hadn't heard about--thank you for the potential new research rabbit hole! I do, however, remember that the American dancer Irene Castle helped popularize the new short cut when she was going in for some surgery or other.
Thank you! I was in a Barnes and Noble once and saw a biography of Chanel on display. I skimmed through it while I was drinking coffee and decided not to buy it because she seemed like a horrible person. I didn't think I could tolerate 300 pages about her. I do like the scent of Chanel No. 5, though.
Outstanding presentation ! Nicole as an ex-designer i can honestly say, you are worth your weight 10 x in GOLD ! What the world was like back in her younger days was completely different than today in fashion. You are so on point with the numerous designers being all over the place. People need to understand "ready to wear" didn't exist. Pretty much everybody knew how to sew on some level. Seamstresses where everywhere....which when you take into account, if a person makes items all the time...creativity is bound to be born...just from sheer boredom, or out of desperate necessity or accidents. This is how Coco got her start. On your point about the color black ? There was a much bigger world DIVA before her that was setting trends around the world. One of these trends was the constant wearing of black... and that great trend setter was Queen Victoria ! Besides France, The royals where the hot ticket to watch, for they were the ultimate in high class conspicuous consumption. Now let's all try some.... Putting On The Ritz ❣
@@Jane-ow7srshe was literally a Nazi spy, so I’d say much more so. She also used the Nazi occupation of France to steal the company from her Jewish partners. While I think we should count people as products of their time, plenty of people knew that anti semitism was wrong in her time, there wasn’t that excuse.
Thank you for this. I had the unpleasant misfortune of having to work with the house of Chanel on a fashion show and the horrific ghouls that worked there. Nasty, vile, stupid, demanding, entitled: they were the worst!
@@îts_ARID Give it a good google; I don’t feel like writing an essay (and there’s a lot of story there) but the tl;dr is that Edison was really good at jacking other folks ideas and claiming he’d come up with them.
@@îts_ARID It’s a good research rabbit hole (sorry, you’ve asked the kind of person who will tell you that you have a search engine and might enjoy using it); I’ll give you some search terms as I don’t want to write an essay. Try “Edison” and “theft” for starters. The tl;dr is that he was good at making money off of other peoples’ ideas while simultaneously claiming credit for them.
funny how the same criticisms hurled at the brand today (price hikes with less quality, lack of innovation) are the same ones coco received. it's not a bug, it's a feature. it's foundational.
Edison and Tesla's beef is very overblown and unfortunately, a lot of people pre 1900s had invented things without the ability to patent them. We didn't have a system. It kept going until the 1950s. Walt Disney invented the modern trash can and was told it would never sell so he decided to never patent it. So that patent belongs to someone else. This is pretty much what happened to Edison in the opposite. There were countless items that no one patented because it just wouldn't sell or it was just too popular. Edison made them better and marketable. That's... it. Same with George Washington Carver (he is not the sole inventor of peanut butter) and various others. It's not that deep. Coco Chanel however literally stole things from people she knew, especially women. She is no feminist.
@@piercenigel4670If I understand correctly, his company employed the inventor. And the standard employment contract says if you invent something while on the clock for a company, said company owns the patent.
I’m really glad you made this video. Chanel is hugely overrated in fashion and general terms. Many don’t realise how widely hated she was after WWII in France- and not only for her TERRIBLE politics and actions. She was generally berated as a designer. To me, she was always a nepo-designer who had an interesting personal style and whose only real talent was selling her own taste as an idea - for a while. Lagerfeld was a true saviour and the only real creative, innovative designer of the fashion house -ever!- , but now that he’s gone they’ve only continued to do the same thing again and again and again and again minus Lagerfeld’s talent to reinvent the wheel.
I am in no way defending the Nazi party. But many, many people of the time ( and likely today, and not the ones one might think) were supportive of, or felt compelled to go along with for survival. Having not (yet) lived in an occupied country during war time I will withhold judgement. Who would thought six months ago that thousands and thousands of people would be marching for the destruction of Israel? Humans seem to be more easily influenced that I would like to think. One thing that does seem to persist is those who are very successful and famous often have made very questionable exchanges to achieve that level.
@@lilolmecj so you’re pro-genocide? People are not marching for Israel’s destruction, they are protesting against the genocide of Palestinians. Over 20000 Palestinian civilians have been killed in the last 3 months. A lot of them children. They don’t have water, food or medical supplies. People are protesting against continuous murder, torture and destruction, you just don’t see that because the people who are suffering are brown and you don’t see them as people.
I'm not fond of anyone who is racist. The final irony is that she fought to get back control of her line from the Jewish family that acquired it. She lost in court and the result is that the same Jewish family still owns it. Anyone who aided and abetted the Germans as much as she did in World War 2 certainly didn't deserve the success she garnered.
I knew that Chanel had claimed other people's ideas as her own and that she collaborated with the Nazis; I hadn't known the extent to which she passed off those ideas as her own or "revised" history. Excellent deep dive! My maternal grandmother's favorite perfume was Chanel No. 5--I don't wear it because a) it would feel odd to claim something like that for myself and b) I refuse to touch anything related to that Nazi. Personally I prefer to honor Elsa Schiaparelli, that Italian artist who made clothes. (It also helps that Schiaparelli was staunchly antifascist.)
Also, No. 5 is so dated, but nobody will say it because you know, it’s Chanel. To me it is the epitome (along with Shalimar) of the Old Lady Perfume smell. barf.
@@florindalucero3236 Chanel No. 5 is dated, I agree. My own scent bias skews more toward chypres and leathers, although I don't mind smelling florals on other people.
When I was learning dressmaking in the 1960's we had to learn 'basic dressmaking patterns". How to draw, measure, how to create a garment, how to draft a pattern & sew a garment from that pattern. I look at Chanel & see simple basic patterns. I had a "chanel" type suit that I made for myself using a basic pattern. She certainly was determined to survive, one way or another!
I walked into Neiman Marcus and saw a photo of coco Chanel on the wall when she visited. She knew how to utilize her influence even if everyone else was doing so. She either knew or didn’t know but it stinks her whole story is not true but I’ll credit her on at least being good at doing business and making herself an icon even if it wasn’t true. I feel this is common amongst many influencers like Edison, Frank Lloyd Wright, today even with musk
I always thought Coco Chanel was a somewhat sketchy character at best, a thief and Nazi collaborator at worst. In my opinion her greatest talents were self-promotion and picking boyfriends
THANK YOU for this: I've NEVER cared for Chanel, never understood the fuss about her staid, boxy tired "fashions". There was Vionnet, Callot Soeurs, Poiret- so many tinventive, colourful, playful designers....frankly, I think her stuff was dull...tired....
Wow Nicole, you should do more biographical deep dives like this, I know they are a LOT of work but I was hanging on with interest to every word until the very end!
Thanks for this deep dive. I knew some amount of this, but less perhaps about her derivative fashion design. She was clearly a survivor, but survived to great extent on the basis of a deeply unpleasant personality and a morality which is at best questionable and, perhaps more accurately, vicious. In reality it seems that after the war she should really have been punished for collaboration - and many many many women were in fact stripped and shaved on the basis only of having relationships with Nazis - and most of THEM were doing that simply to EAT! It's clear that Chanel actually espoused not only their life-style but also their philosophy, and I'm a bit surprised that the French authorities let her come back: as a person she lacked empathy and favoured abusiveness even in her business dealings, it seems. In summarising her complete lack of creativity you lead me to discard what little respect I already had for Gabrielle Chanel. I look at her life in the context of her near-contemporaries like Josephine Baker or Colette who were enormously talented, incredibly courageous in the face of real risk of death but died in poverty, and Chanel is worse than a street beggar.
Fantastic video - the 1953 reviews are hilarious. Chanel in France, at least when I was growing up and before Lagerfeld took over, was always seen as mumsy, conservative and old-fashioned, so it's interesting to see that that was already the case decades earlier. (I never liked the Largerfeld bling either) Thank you for the deep dive, very interesting deconstruction of an "icon" who was just very good at marketing
Mumsy is exactly the right word. I started looking at Chanel differently after Stella Tennant started modeling for KL but even then, the energy came from Stella Tennant and Chanel still looked stuffy. Schiaperelli and Balenciaga had much more exciting and marvelous work (don't know anything about them as people).
@@martifinan998 i think it was said. @missvioletnightchild2515 said "(chanel) was just very good at marketing" . just. just that. nothing else. but nevermind. thank you for taking the time to answer.
I was told that about removing one accessory before leaving the house by my mom in 1965, so it def predates Michael Kors. All my gfs in college followed that rule.
Where are you from? It’s interesting that it wasn’t common enough that it was documented in *popular writing before the 90s. I first heard it in the mid to late 2000s, which always struck me as weird because I had a fashionable mother in a fairly fashionable city.
My Midwestern mom and aunts followed this practice in the late 1950's....possibly earlier but that's as early as I can remember. I believe very it was commonly taught in the sewing/fashion component of Home Economics classes.
I don’t get it, though. Did y’all really go out wearing that much extra stuff? When I go out I wear what I need. There’s literally nothing I can remove that won’t be a problem to leave behind.
Oh yes, even in the early 80’s we followed that rule. We called it the too much rule. Basically it was to make yourself look at yourself critically, then again we used an entire can of hair spray a day.
Yes. Chanel was, beyond anything else, a Nazi sympathizer who shouldn’t be celebrated or honored. She wasn’t a feminist in *any* sense. As for fashion history, I’m surprised that when you talked about Chanel’s problems in the 1950s, you didn’t juxtapose her focus on “old looks” with the popular rage of the post-war era: Christian Dior’s New Look. The New Look emphasized excess as a reaction to wartime austerity, with its use of lots of fabric and lush colors, as well as on its exaggeration of the female body. The New Look was the strongest influence on fashion until the late 1950s/early 1960s. As a historian, I’d also like to suggest that if you do history-oriented videos, you help your viewers orient themselves by mentioning the years when significant events took place. Many people don’t know when WWII started and ended, and they certainly don’t know the years of WWI (both of which were slightly different for the US than for Europe); when talking about Chanel’s union-busting, it would help to contextualize it as happening during the Great Depression, when millions of people were out of work and starving in many parts of the world. So Chanel’s tactics didn’t happen in a vacuum; she was actively putting her employees out on the streets. She was a selfish fascist who spent the post-WWII era resenting it that her side lost the war, and that she was a one-trick pony.
The best way to call her out, "a stylish fascist." But it was often said that Mademoiselle, during the war WWII years, she was a simple but complicated "une grande horizontalle."
I think also talking about how those wars affected fashion houses and all the workers. The fabric and notions were rationed, there were organizations/committees set up to purchase supplies, and in WWII France fashion houses had to gain permission from Germany to even work and gain access to many fabrics such as silk, wool, etc. (if I understand what I have read from memoirs from that time). Not only that but the attrition of men, women and children, from those periods. Not many fashion houses stayed open during WWII and if they did, they had limited resources, and funds, and most likely had Germans as their customers (Paris for sure). Very unsettling and sad situations all around.
Before she was a designer, she was a courtesan, which is the most expensive kind of call-girl. It was one of her lovers that bank rolled her start up. She was quoted in a paper at the time that she enjoyed having men “fight over her delicious little body”.
Thanks for taking the time to research and clarify who Coco Chanel actually was in real life. Perhaps it’s best to note that the reason she is legendary is because as you said she knew how to market herself. Yet, I think the other reason why the “mystique” of Chanel continues is because Americans like to fantasize and have a tendency to “romanticize” and be “sentimental” about things they take a liking to. Your thoughtful presentation provides a very honest and sober look at Chanel and it’s important!
Thank you for this deep dive into what was really a great marketing campaign. Also, thank you for continuing to produce this wonderful content that everyone can view and learn from.
Very good video. The legend of coco chanel is just that. A legend. Shes held up to an ideal but her influence was jumping on every popular trend after it eas established. I think she was very good and creating a legend. Unfortunately the person is far from being kind. And frankly im bothered and offended thaf Chanel's nazi ties are overlooked by the fashion industry.
the fashion industry has a longstanding habit of overlooking (outright ignoring or excusing, even) all manner of things that merit deeper scrutiny, unfortunately. it's a problem to this day.
@@etheric_dissonance fr! Im happy nowadays a lot of fashion reporters and fashion enthusiasts call out problematic aspects and histories of designers and movements in fashion history but holy heck crazy how it took centuries and decades to get to the point where its encouraged to criticise celebrated designers. However, the fact people are so willing to overlook so much horrible things that designers and houses do just to get items is disgusting. Esp when theres a rich world of archival sales.
louis vuitton collaborated with the nazis in vichy france. they produced objetcs (if i remember, not necessarily things related to what the brand does). someone wrote a book about it. the claim ran on only one newspaper in france. the moët henessy louis vuitton group is the largest advertiser in the country.
I recall being told about Henry Ford said something along the lines of ‘you can have any colour you want as long as it’s black’ when it came to his first production cars. I wonder if that’s the simple reason behind Chanel’s decision to make the dress black?
Unless I missed something, it appears to me that Chanel did invent something unique and that was the "simplistic" look by condensing and breaking down. Of course she took ideas from others as that is what most people including inventors and designers do when they try to reinvent "the wheel." I don't believe there are many truly original ideas. Also, as you said, she knew how to market herself/style! Her personal life on the other hand was questionable.
I will say, I love the irony that the Jewish men she tried to sell out managed to turn around the brand and keep their family wealthy for generations. Good on them, for that.
As a Michigander living in Detroit, I’m curious if the “Ford” was more of an allusion to the fact the dress was black. Ford was known to joke that people could get their Model T in any color as long as that color is black.
While the goal of maintaining the iconic Chanel No. 5 scent was probably the goal for the 20s, 30s, etc, that is no longer true nowadays. Its formula has been heavily swung towards modern synthetics now. This started sometime after the 80s. Chanel No. 5 no longer smells like the original and I had to quit wearing it some years ago as it shifted into a fragrance that no longer smelled the same on me.
I have always hated Chanel No 5. I first smelled it in a fancy store when I was a child in the late 50s. I have never understood why women loved it so much. But I do like Chanel men's cologne.
I agree the fragrance is definitely different than it used to be! I hate the syntheticizing (my word) of my favorite fragrance. Chanel no 5 was what my mother wore in the 1960's as I was growing up. It is the only fragrance my mother ever wore so it is forever in my memory as her scent. It is for this reason that I adore it, not because of Coco.
It’s disgusting now Utterly horrifying It’s the only perfume I would wear and it doesn’t exist anymore For several decades It was MY mom’s perfume and she died young at 34.
My Last Comment On This. it really helped me to understand that chanel might not have been as important as we thought in their first years, or even decades. the perfume was a hit. it serves as caution: next time you read that a brand was founded in the 1800's, don't fall for the "tradition" trap. it's impossible to really know what happen since back then, and the brand website certainly won't tell you anything negative. i already knew the worst parts of coco's life. so this video made me like her more. the sheer persistence and smarts. it's very well-researched. it's mean-spirited. so some of the stories are conveniently cut short. it was, in the whole, illuminating. i wish there was more videos like this on the channel. thank you, nicole.
@@JB-vd8bi Indeed so. I think it was Lillie Langtry who caused a sensation all over London by showing up in black with no jewelry--hence the mark she made as a professional beauty, then an actress. (She was "the Jersey Lily" to the press.)
@@AngryTheatreMakerLillie was in mourning for her brother and her new husband didn't have any cash. So she found herself with just one decent dress. She wore it and adapted it for multiple occasions for a long time, often with a white collar, aware that mourning did actually become her youthful fresh complexion and auburn hair! So the combination of her simple dress and beauty made her a hit, especially with artists.
Great video! What actually set N°5 apart from other fragrances of its time is the unusually heavy use of aldehydes (the note reminiscent of candle wax).
I will admit that I LOVE Chanel No. 5 perfume. It smells so good on me and I'm not an usually perfume person. My mother got me an eau de toilette for my birthday one year. I was so happy because that stuff is expensive and I certainly wasn't disappointed it wasn't an eau de parfum as my mother was. She felt bad for some reason that she couldn't afford the eau de parfum. A few years later I was in Costco with my mother around the holidays and they had a big palette of designer eau de parfum and I dug into it to find a Chanel No. 5. It was a true eau de parfum and only $65 for a big bottle. The funny thing was while I was digging into the pile, people would grab what I pulled up as the good stuff was at the bottom. I made a few people so damned happy and I had to guard the Chanel No. 5 I found as it was the only one I could find. There were some people that took over digging when I finally got out. My mother got great enjoyment out of my digging and bought it for me. She was so damned thrilled that it was an eau de parfum. That bottle will last me the rest of my life and every time I use it, I think of my mother and that ay at Costco.
Funny, I've never understood how anyone can like that stench: it smells like a chemical factory. I have a friend who loves it, but when I meet with her, I stay at a 2 meters distance from her, so that I can avoid sensing her Chanel 5
@@msinvincible2000 People don't have the same sense of smell. There's plenty of scents that I can't stand that tons of others love. I am always very careful about how much I wear. I don't want to be one of those people that leave a cloud of scent behind. I want to be the only one who can smell me, lol.
I love Chanel No. 5, too. When I was a kid, I would go the Chanel counter at department stores and ask for a sample. Sometimes, the person working there would give me whatever samples they had on hand, so I started a collection of little perfume samples. I didn't wear them, but I would take off the lids and smell them. I had a lot of different Chanel perfumes in my collection, but No. 5 was the best.
I've seen "Coco avant Chanel" and I bought the film because of her massive influence in the fashion industry. The movie made me hate her. If that is showing her in a good light.... Oh boy.
This is excellent. Thank you. My husband and I perform the music of the 1920s and I’m very interested in the clothing of that era. I really appreciate all the images you posted to illustrate your points.
@@phylis3917 Many cultures around the world have worn multiple necklaces, Indians included - but it's hardly exclusive to them any more than it's something Chanel invented. It's hardly a unique and innovative thing to wear multiple necklaces, the idea that it "belongs" to any one specific culture is very silly.
@@_oaktree_ well, i'd be inclined to agree, but it's not until i think the Edwardians that the real layering as a standard started in the current, western conversation. before that necklaces are much more either statement pieces or smaller, as either part of or a compliment to larger diamond sets including stomachers. is also interesting when you thing the Necklace that du barry never got and no one could afford--it had a layering kind of vibe....but it wasnt the fashion, it was a fantasy
I think you mean Palm Beach. West Palm Beach is where their servants used to live and now it's one of the fastest growing cities in Florida and it's where I lived for about 10 years. IT'S nice but NOTHING like Palm Beach. 😉
At last ! I have been correcting so many of my contemporaries and trainees on the subject of mrs Chanel over the last 40 years that it was getting tiresome. For many of the origins of what Chanel presented i often refer to amongst others Paul Poiret. In a cense Chanel was the first stylist. There is nothing wrong with that but it is about time that history starts writing about the difference between the art of creating original designs and copying clothes. Thank you so much for making this video
She sounds like an opportunist, wanting to stay on top at all costs. When you spoke about how she was conservative, didn’t create something new and how the styles were not exciting, I remembered that that is what modern day Chanel is criticized for as well. On that note, one could say that they are actually staying true to the brand😅
To me a fashion designer is little different from an author. Both borrow ideas from their predecessors. The more one learns, the more one discovers how little is genuinely new. Those who become famous in their lifetime have be wit or by chance hitched a ride on popular trends. I cite Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol. He wrote at a time when his compatriots were fond of ghost stories but superstitious about invoking evil spirits. They felt safe sharing such stories during Christmas because they considered that the holiest time of year. The famous Dickens novel celebrates both the spooky and the spiritual.
Well I guess I gotta say that she's a talented marketer, and marketing more than makes up for things that otherwise would be rather mundane and ordinary 😒
Although she may have not been the creator of the jersey knit or the little black dress, one thing is certain: THE WAY she presented these oufits , or the combinations she wore, are to her credit. In a time were women would not even think about wearing trousers, she did. At a time where seaman outfits (pullovers with stripes) where only used by men, well, she wore them. She mixed diffent kind of jewellery at a time where everything was weared in a "certain way" to be classy, she broke those rules, and that is to her credit... not the fact that she created or not textiles...she had the "nose" to create trends, and this, until these times is something that common people tend to resent, specially today where even the classical brands seem to have lost their way puting in the market things that can barely have any sense of style. Actual fashion can only be compared to the one scene in the serie Emily in Paris where the fashion designer creates a runway in the street accompanied by garbage trucks...this image is so real that you can see it brought to real life in the latest fashion show held in Milan... The good times of true fashion, true trends and style are gone... unfortunately.
I already knew about some of this--the podcast "Behind the Bastards" did an episode on Coco Chanel and specifically her Nazi connections. She was not a great person, although I'll admit the Audrey Tautou film about her is lovely simply because Audrey Tautou is a fantastic actress.
Really appreciate the depth of research you put into your video essays Nicole, and all the first-hand sources you cite (& show onscreen). Really helps reinstate vital historical context that gets lost over time! (Or in cases like Chanel's, intentionally muddled by the individual themselves & their publicity machine... 😬) If it was a topic that interested you, I'd love to see a vid on Queen Victoria and whether her influence on fashion & mores of her era was really as indepth as history paints it to have been, or whether she was more remaking her personal image to follow already-existing trends of the time, as a way to retain popularity and political influence...? She's another high-profile female figure whose place in history seems to have been heavily mythologised, and whose behind-the-scenes character seems to have been not especially nice!
Very interesting and eye-opening video. Thanks Nicole. I've never understood the fascination with Chanel, to me most of her designs look old-fashioned. Even House of Chanel fashion nowadays is mostly boring and doesn't look good on most women. I totally ignored all the facts from her life, and appreciate learning about her personality, which from what you've reseached, isn't any better than her fashion line...
Interesting that you put this is, as I just recently found out about her and her ties to the Nazis. As always, I love your content, and look forward to your projects and posts!
I like both but I love deep dives. My hubby watches alot of shorts, and his attention span has gotten a little smaller. We're not old, so it's not senility, lol.
Class is in session. I always learn something from Nicole, and she has such a captivating way of telling a story. I've never been much of a designer brand fan, but I imagine there'll be quite a few Jews discarding Chanel from their collections after discovering this fascinating peice of history. Thanks Nicole. I always thoroughly enjoy your videos.
Its not the same but I know of an extremely beloved film director who I shall not name that people worship yet he has done absolutely terrible things by his own admission, casually and with seemingly no remorse, in his autobiography and yet his fans will not acknowledge it or they brush it off. They live in denial, having formulated a version of him to their liking based off of his "quirky" public persona and they willfully keep the lies going. I'm utterly sick of this kind of behavior, this perpetuation of a fictional version because the public is too weak to admit that the person they idolize is actually a monster- even if the object of their affection admits to horrible acts. There's so little integrity these days.
All else about her aside, Chanel No 17 (bath oil) I think was the most amazing creation ever. I bought a bottle of this at a perfume shop in Harvard Square, Cambridge, in the 1980s. It was the warmest, most sensual scent ever. I was told by the person who sold it to me that it was Coco's personal scent and therefore not advertised. It was difficult to get and I treasured every bottle of it I could get as if it were solid gold. A bit of that in one's bath, and people would follow you around the whole day remarking on how heavenly you smelled. I practically wept when I ran out of my last bottle.
As shown in the video and other people may also mention in the comments. Chanel really didn't invent more like popularized or outlasted/outlived her other competitors (such as other 1920s Paris designers). Like as you said in the video, contrary to what most pop history states. It is notnexactly as simple as Chanel being the one credited in making black a non-mourning color. As sources show, it was already a well known fashion choice before she was even born Such as this one "The correct dress for housemaids is, in the morning, a neat, light-colored print dress, simple cap, and large white apron, with a coarser one to tie over the latter while grates, etc., are being cleaned. In the afternoon she should change into a black dress, turned-down collar and cuffs of irreproachable whiteness, and muslin cap and apron of rather more elaborate pattern. […] the usual print and black dresses, etc., the maid herself provides.’ From: (Every Woman’s Encyclopaedia, 1910-2) "
Hi, I know this has absolutely nothing to do with the video. But I absolutely need to know what color green your set is. I'm restoring a 1890 to 1900 home and need this for the formal dining room. Thank you so much for your videos. You're an inspiration.
I love your in-depth dives into fashion history! I recently read one of Chanel‘s biographies and came to the realization that she was something of an a-hole… Very well done, Nicole!
Wow! So thorough. It's hard to respect an early business woman who aligned with Conservative men over working women, especially as war was beginning. Her negative impact on families has a direct correlation with her financial enrichment. Without the perfume, she would not have been able to sustain herself over the years. It time to find the feminist designers from a century ago.
![ลองสุ่มไอโฟน 990 โกงมั้ย? [ โกงมั้ยครับ ep.101 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bfsWe0j492k/mqdefault.jpg)
Adding in that yes, Chanel is still being idolized today. There are museum exhibits that opened in the last few years, new movies/series that include her, and so much more. Just last September someone came out with documents attempting to prove she was part of the French Resistance (which were questionable at best: www.france24.com/en/europe/20231127-historian-debunks-claims-that-coco-chanel-served-in-the-french-resistance ). I'm not doing this video to "destroy a woman who worked hard". This is to stop glorifying one that took the credit from those that did. The House of Premet is largely unknown, but maybe if they were properly credited with 1920s style, jersey knit, or the LBD that would be a familiar name instead. We can't just separate art from artist (even if it was her art)- the willingness to lie to get ahead, actively harming others in the process, is buried in her work.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Love Coco Chanel always will🕊🧡
@@jori7398 Calling you out (calling ANYONE out) for supporting dead Nazis and their influence isn’t being anti-Semitic . . . MAKE IT MAKE SENSE
@@Wee_Catalyst did you see your name, @Wee_Catalyst, as a prefix to any of my comments to Nicole? No, you did not.
Demonstrate some self control toward your keyboard please. The world does not need to hear your every thought.
@@jori7398 I could say the same about you and your thoughts about supporting evil people because you like the way their art makes you feel-the world doesn’t need to hear those thoughts
Why don’t YOU demonstrate some self-control before advising others to do something you yourself seem incapable of doing?
My gran and few other poor ladies got their stuff stolen by a rich " textile artist", well at age 85 my gran got her revenge. There was big textile expo about this woman and my gran knew that all the ladies had hidden their initials in their original works and told the guide who made what and showed it, next week the expo was shut down and instead there was one about home textiles.
Was it Sonia Delauney?
I would love to know more details about the art or the theft, if you’re willing to provide them.
This sounds very interesting!! Love to hear more!!
Yes!! A collab with Nicole! I'm here for it!
I'm WAITING for this!
Thank you so much for this. I'm a fashion student in university and it really frustrates me to see how many of her unsubstantiated claims are taught as if they were fact. Whenever she's brought up in our curriculum she's talked about as if she singlehandedly invented modern fashion (and her connections to the nazis are barely brushed over). I really appreciate that you did so much research and debunked a lot of those myths.
This! Drives me nuts. I've just marked dozens of essays on Chanel which all avoided her problematic side. Everyone basically said she single-handedly liberated women 🤷🏼♀️
The fact the she kept seeing the Nazi well into the 50's is so disgusting. A horizontal collaborater, is what they where called. I no longer look up to her when I found out about that. So, very disappointing.
@@theguest4516 other women were destroyed for colluding with Nazis even though invading soldiers don't tend to ask for consent. Can't believe she still gets a pass for being "influential".
Universities are saturated with unsubstantiated claims given as facts.
@@theguest4516 she was also financed by a Jewish investor, so there you are
I’d like to know more about Elsa Schiaparelli. Her designs are just so original and still very much wearable. She is a truly creative designer.
I second this!
Agreed!!
Me too!
I love the story about CoCo dancing with Elsa at a costume Christmas party while Elsa was dressed like a chandelier equipped with actual candles and CoCo danced her directly into a dry Christmas tree so Elsa would catch the tree on fire. They sound like a fun maybe a bit dangerous bunch.
Yes Schiaparelli gave us the bias cut gown. I feel in love with her while I was in school for design
One of the most striking things I've ever read about Coco Chanel is that (paraphrasing) she was anti-Semitic to a degree that was considered unseemly even by the standards of 1930s Europe. Which is astounding when you really think about it.
It's like being that SS division that made the rest of the SS go "hey, settle down, okay?"
She lost ownership of her most monetarily lucrative product (perfume) to a Jewish family. She saw blood red wherever she went after that.
The more I hear about Chanel the more I want to learn about Elsa Schiaparelli, the Wertheimers and Hubert de Givenchy.
Givenchy??? Even Alexander McQueen said Givenchy had no talent.
@@jonnyfendi2003 wait, but McQueen could say basically anyone had no talent and compared to him, he'd be right....
Cristobal Balenciaga was the ONLY one with talent during those years, even Gabrielle Chanel admitted he was the only real true couturier
My French teacher grew up in a village in the north of France after the war. She remembered the women in the village who hooked up with German soldiers during the war had their heads shaved as a sign of their collaboration. As a mature woman, was still bitter that, “…not a hair of Coco Chanel’s head was touched.”
Here for this, yo. She was absolutely a Nazi sympathizer.
How much choice did they have though?
@@JB-vd8bi Nazi's targeted Jewish people specifically, I don't think they would let a Jewish woman go in exchange for r*ping her. I don't believe the women that were targeted by nazis had the option, the women not targeted by nazis though might get something out of hooking up, a la Chanel.
@@JB-vd8bi in a lot of cases none whatsoever. Coco, however, was an actual intelligence operative for the Nazis and helped design their uniform.
@@JB-vd8bi But yes, exchange of s** for goods is still r*pe in my opinion, even if they weren't held at gunpoint.
I'm a liaison librarian for a fashion faculty, and there are so many Chanel books in our collection. there is an element in the faculty that absolutely worship Chanel. There are so many books that straight up apologise or completely ignore her ww2 actions and other behaviours towards her staff. I've only been in the role 18 months and am working hard to balance out the collection.
Good luck u are truly doing a good deed
Thank you for your service to mankind.
Yes, Thank you for Your Service!
She was completely over rated
Doing great work, I find Chanel fascinating and her style intriguing alongside her ability to build such a business in that time period. But I acknowledge she appears to be a very flawed person and that should be documented fairly in accounts of her history.
Where is this library -what university I’m curious ?
Nichole, I appreciate your design videos, but for me this is one of your most important ones. There have been several facts lost to the hype surrounding her career: her anti-Semitism; her pro-Nazi support; her treatment of the women and men responsible for the production of her garments; her claims which obfuscate the origins of fashion trends and her own beginnings. She was a woman ahead (somewhat) of her time in that she knew how to manipulate her public image to suit her purposes. During an interview on television, Karl Lagerfeld was openly critical of her attitude and behavior. Even given that nice women seldom make history, would rather see one that actually did those things that made history. Thanks for your video.
i too think it's a pity that i browsed through your channel and did not find more videos like this.
I hadn't heard about the mistreatment of her garment makers ... but it doesn't surprise me. Slave labor and/or toxic conditions and low pay have been a part of the industry for a long time.
Karl Lagerfeld himself being quite related to the Nazis...and also known for being terrible in his own way... that's crazy. Imagine being so trifling!
@@lordfreerealestate8302 well the whole world really, still a problem today across most industries. It's not a problem for everyone but we are nowhere near Labor's full rights, empowerment and equality.
@@Udontkno7 Being so antisemitic that Nazis balk is crazy
A suisse investigation found out, that the logo of Chanel was not her invention. It was the logo of the Chateau de Cremat, which was owned by a rich female friend of Gabrielle Chanel. Probably the saw the power of such a logo for a brand like hers and changed her name, so she could use it for her business.
they recently hosted a show there
I can't deny she had a unique personal style, but she really only designed for her body type, and frankly, designing clothes that are just straight lines and two colours doesn't require a lot of skill. As a person, well, she was a monster.
Yeah I never ever understood the appeal to her signature style, sooo boxy and ugh, would look horrendous on me 😂
@@ArtByEmilyHareIt’s not her style but rather her approach to style that many find interesting in my view. It’s having clothes and bags that aren’t so feminine and if you think about the time she lived in it was signature to her. I see successful women wearing similar “Chanel jackets” today but fashion has evolved so much and today we are spoilt with choice. It’s great but also has huge drawbacks in my view.
@@Coastpsych_fi99having more choice creates more drawbacks? How so? I think for women who don’t suit one particular style (like for instance someone with a curvy body like mine not suiting straight styles like 1920’s) it’s great to have a large choice
@@ArtByEmilyHare I actually love the loose, not form-fitting styles of the 1920's.
@@LightYagami-xl1wzI love the cocoon coats but not the waistless dresses on me as my bottom half is two sizes bigger than my top so it doesn’t work on my shape at all
Everything I've ever read about Coco Chanel seemed to indicate that she wasn't an especially pleasant person, in general. She sold an image which, I suspect, was really just masking an unhappy person. Oh, and IMO, none of the Chanel scents are pleasant - especially No. 5.
Agreed, No 5 has always smelled absolutely terrible to me
You’ve only tried the degraded American versions. The French made are amazing. Synthetics vs actual flower oils.
Remember - proffessional perfumers made those and Chanel’s name happened to be on them. Don’t dis an entire industry for taking a gig, it just seems silly. That you hadn’t thought through whose work that really is.
@@elizabethclaiborne6461 🤣🤣🤣 Please keep telling us strangers on the internet in blanket sweeping statements that we’ve never tried something and at the same time assume we’re all Americans who have never smelled or bought perfume from anywhere other than America . . .
I understand that you’re unhappy with the supposed dog piling on the perfume which of course was designed by an actual perfumer/team of them and not Chanel but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s not a universally appealing scent
@@elizabethclaiborne6461 Are you aware that you're gaslighting? That's what you're doing when you tell someone else what they have or haven't done when you have no idea what experience they're speaking from. People are allowed to have different preferences from you. It doesn't make them wrong or silly. Preferences are personal. It isn't dissing an entire industry to have a preference. That's why the industry exists and not just one product.
@@biguattipoptropica She had to do, and a lot, in the perfume. The Wertheimer owned 70% of the capital of "Parfums Chanel", but they were just businessmen, even though they also owned Bourjois. It is a bit as if you were saying that Bernard Arnault is a fashion creator because he owns Dior…. The creation of the N°5 was made by Ernest Beaux, at the request of Gabrielle Chanel. The Wertheimers never interfered.
I once saw footage of Coco Chanel appearing on a French talk show, where she was bombastic, egotistical and contrary. I particularly remember her aggressive diatribe against the suggestion that a woman could hold her own without wearing perfume. She was born in a time and place when only a man could be regarded as truly successful, accomplished or exceptional and therefore regarded herself as an honorary man, just like other narcissistic self creators who imagined they had escaped or transcended their own sex, like Ayn Rand. She certainly didn't feel any affinity for other women, who were at best, competition.
this is so depressingly accurate :/
agree w everything you said but one: a lot of women where kinda forced to present themselves as honorary men to get taken seriously. and also it was for a lot the only way they knew to feel empowered... even though it is the direct contrary of how we feel today, i kinda understand the sentiment as i felt like that being little, the only way to be seen as a person and not like a dumb little thing was to act like a guy and almost despise feminine women who made me feel like they where feeding the dumb girl stereotype, obviously i know better now and i know it was dumb but i can't imagine how it must have been at the time, regardless, coco chanel in particular was a true enemy to women and never someone we should look up to and im happy this type of videos are made now.
My grandmother said the spelling of Ayn was just obnoxious lol
@@nothere_coraYes, but women who don’t support other women are NOT good people and not to be trusted.
I was thinking she reminds me of Ayn Rand, too.
She was the OG problematic and narcissistic influencer.
The Jaclyn Hill of her day, plus Nazis
Her boyfriend ruined many a chair in elegant homes with his “Brilliantine” hair dressing. Sounds pretty unsavory.
@@IrishAnnie Not to give him anh praise, but, men's hair oil had been a problem for over 100 years at that point. There's a reason the antimacassar became a thing.
The kind to just skim past controversy too
@@IrishAnnie what do you know, trash sees trash after all
I was a Chanel sales advisor in Paris for a while. And even though I loved my job and the team was wonderful, it was clear to me the brand was struggling to find its modern style with the old fashioned codes of the House, no matter how many there were. People rightfully find the brand outdated, and most of what we sold were the classic handbags and shoes, who were timeless and frankly stunning
I so appreciate the amount of research you do for these videos. I knew about her being a n@zi sympathizer, but not about her lack of "innovation" nor her terrible treatment of her staff! She really girlbossed her way to the top in the grossest way
I've never been impressed with Chanel & always felt she was an unscrupulous self-promoter. Elsa Schiaparelli was the true visionary. #TeamSchiaparelli
ALSO SCHIAPARELLI STAYS UNPROBLEMATIC, on that alone makes her better than chanel's uninspired corny self her amazing designs and knowlege of it makes her better
Schiaparelli for the win!
I just detest the fact that she was not punished for her nazi collaborations.
Paul Poiret was pretty gifted.
I feel sorry for Elsa's gown to be burned by Coco during the ball party before World War
I feel like I just took a long walk through history and was actually sad when the video ended. You are a fabulous historian.
I find it amazing that so many people actually are surprised by the lies. You do not gain that type offame or fortune in the fashion industry by being an honest person. Especially in that time of history.
So true! 😆
Same thing happens today honestly. Big brands stealing ideas and lying.
That's in arts in general, I saw this with my own eyes when I was an art student.
I reckon any fella ever had a statue made of him was one kinda sonofabitch or another.
In any industry really.
My mother was a fashion model in the 1950's. She always followed the notion of before leaving the house, look in the mirror and remove one item. This applied to jewelry, not clothing. She certainly did not invent this phrase or concept. She worked with many designers. It's impossible to know where the phrase can from. Sadly, she died ten years ago so I cannot ask her. Thank you for an interesting vlog!
We'll never get past that, will we? Wanting to ask our mom something after she’s gone.
Excellent and I am French, all what you said is true. People forget how anti-Jews she could be. Vuitton, the brand, was also horrible during the last world war.
Thank you for your researches and this video.
Oh, I had no idea Vuitton was involved in any wars! That's crazy.
I was looking at the Schiaparelli patterns in PoF2 recently and my mum said "oh, is that Chanel?" I was scandalised! Schiaparelli>Chanel
Yes! And Vionnet too
And Alix Grès
Chanel was great for stealing
I hope you were able to make that a teaching moment!
To everyone who feels like they lost a hero: Check out Josephine Baker!! If you haven't heard of her already, she was an amazing Black actress and singer who also part of the real French Resistance. Her outfits were also gorgeous! She's the REAL fashion icon and heroine that we should celebrate!!
omg, my heart is pounding. i read kind of fast and thought there was also a lot of dirt on josephine. omg what a scare.
Josephine Baker was so iconic, what an incredible person.
@@aliendeathrocker i bought a print of hers on my first time in paris. those lovely green stands by the river. 💛
Why??I don't want to celebrate anyone
@@Србомбоница86 birthday parties with you must be fun ahahhha
So, in a sense, she was far ahead of her time because she was faking it 'till she made it, like so many influencers and brands do today...😅
Very much so lol. One thing about Coco she was gonna lie her ass off.
Coco Chanel should be credited alongside Eddie Bernays with the creation of modern marketing. She was a genius at it and, in many ways, an innovator. That's where her true talent lay. She was her own product. Getting financed by a series of wealthy, powerful sugar daddies who broke up with her on good terms was genius.
I noticed rich people often have issues with character. Wealthy in money but dirt poor in personal moral and ethics
As time has revealed, also the same applies to Royalty who are supposed to be better than the rest of us, in intelligence and moral character, appointed supposedly by God.
And while being poor doesn't automatically mean being of gold heart, only that the tiniest of slips - real or perceived - are punished fully and harshly while rotten character in rich and famous is allowed to progress, rot and fester...
When I was a teenager, I used to assist a florist who'd decorate the homes of the very wealthy. From personal experience and what I heard from their house staff, I learned a valuable lesson (and witnessed throughout life), wealth does not equate class, not at all.
No. It's only that money reveals your real self. Some stop playing nice for survival, others start giving back, and usually the second ones are more discreet.
Chanel was dirt poor and an orphan. She did not make that up.
Re: "take one thing off"
I first came across the concept in a sewing manual published in the 1960s (The Bishop Method of Clothing Construction, Revised edition 1959, 1966). The author presents it as common knowledge, which suggests a provenance of at least a few decades at that point.
That is super interesting.
I heard it -- not attributed to Chanel -- in the 70s, in the kind of "how to dress" guides that showed up in teen fashion magazines.
I was a teenager in the 70's, I heard it also, and I heard as being from CoCo Chanel.
Relatedly, I was given an early 60s girls' annual as a tween and it had the advice "don't ever wear bracelets on both arms at once." I often remember that. (I wear bracelets on both arms. Also "don't wear rings at all until you're engaged" didn't stick either lol)
I know that I was aware of the phrase in the 70's. No idea where it came from.
Reminds me of Mr. Singer, who claimed to have invented the sewing machine. Image is everything and history can be rewritten. Thanks for researching.
And Edison, that prick.
Need a video on this next!
@@flux.aeterna actually, Abby has made one th-cam.com/video/xI-tLfa8KeE/w-d-xo.htmlsi=bmeCr3lyZybijKAH
@@flux.aeternaAbby Cox did one. I live in Spencer, MA where one of the investors who actually got royalties was born. If you look up Elias Howe. His brothers were also inventors! Their home had sewn fabric wall paper from the machine. Sadly all that is left now is the foundation.
In addition to all of this, when it comes to La Garconne, all the people mentioned and trends of the time, the hairdresser Antoine de Paris is a way understated figure. Come on, he invented the garconne short haircut, which Coco adopted and claimed she cut her own hair (debatable for many reasons). Also he did collab with Elsa Schiaparelli for fashionable hair+clothes looks, and happened to be a more famous (during their lifetime) neighbour of Chanel (and they weren't very fond of each other). Sadly his fame and influence faded enough that afaik there are no english-language works on his life, I found only a biography in polish.
Most people can't cut their hair that well from the sides into the back, especially with shingled edges. It's a shame that Antoine has been forgotten.
I LOVE Antoine! A few of the old video channels I follow post his hair work from the 1930s-60s. Just gorgeous and so creative. I didn't know his backstory, though! Putting that in my research pocket for later. Thank you!
Antoine of Paris I hadn't heard about--thank you for the potential new research rabbit hole! I do, however, remember that the American dancer Irene Castle helped popularize the new short cut when she was going in for some surgery or other.
Thank you! I was in a Barnes and Noble once and saw a biography of Chanel on display. I skimmed through it while I was drinking coffee and decided not to buy it because she seemed like a horrible person. I didn't think I could tolerate 300 pages about her. I do like the scent of Chanel No. 5, though.
Outstanding presentation ! Nicole as an ex-designer i can honestly say, you are worth your weight 10 x in GOLD ! What the world was like back in her younger days was completely different than today in fashion. You are so on point with the numerous designers being all over the place. People need to understand "ready to wear" didn't exist. Pretty much everybody knew how to sew on some level. Seamstresses where everywhere....which when you take into account, if a person makes items all the time...creativity is bound to be born...just from sheer boredom, or out of desperate necessity or accidents. This is how Coco got her start. On your point about the color black ? There was a much bigger world DIVA before her that was setting trends around the world. One of these trends was the constant wearing of black... and that great trend setter was Queen Victoria ! Besides France, The royals where the hot ticket to watch, for they were the ultimate in high class conspicuous consumption. Now let's all try some.... Putting On The Ritz ❣
Behind the Bastards did an episode on her last year, it goes way deeper into her personal prejudices. She was SO antisemitic, y'all
😖😖😖
Eh not much difference from the modern masses.
@@Jane-ow7srshe was literally a Nazi spy, so I’d say much more so. She also used the Nazi occupation of France to steal the company from her Jewish partners. While I think we should count people as products of their time, plenty of people knew that anti semitism was wrong in her time, there wasn’t that excuse.
That’s such a good podcast & a good episode. She was indeed an awful person.
*you all
Thank you for this. I had the unpleasant misfortune of having to work with the house of Chanel on a fashion show and the horrific ghouls that worked there. Nasty, vile, stupid, demanding, entitled: they were the worst!
So what I’m getting is that Chanel was the Edison of fashion.
PRETTY MUCH
oh I don't know wat u r talking about ... can u elaborate ??? pls
Edison stole Tesla's inventions, light bulb etc. All about electricity
@@îts_ARID Give it a good google; I don’t feel like writing an essay (and there’s a lot of story there) but the tl;dr is that Edison was really good at jacking other folks ideas and claiming he’d come up with them.
@@îts_ARID It’s a good research rabbit hole (sorry, you’ve asked the kind of person who will tell you that you have a search engine and might enjoy using it); I’ll give you some search terms as I don’t want to write an essay. Try “Edison” and “theft” for starters. The tl;dr is that he was good at making money off of other peoples’ ideas while simultaneously claiming credit for them.
“just a little bit of research” 😂 you did a LOT of work for this excellent story!
funny how the same criticisms hurled at the brand today (price hikes with less quality, lack of innovation) are the same ones coco received. it's not a bug, it's a feature. it's foundational.
She was like Edison in a way. Didn't really invent anything new but knew how to market and but their spin on it.
Frankly, as foul as CoCo was, I think she was still better than Edison.
didn't edison file patents for things he didn't invent? that's different
Edison and Tesla's beef is very overblown and unfortunately, a lot of people pre 1900s had invented things without the ability to patent them. We didn't have a system. It kept going until the 1950s.
Walt Disney invented the modern trash can and was told it would never sell so he decided to never patent it. So that patent belongs to someone else. This is pretty much what happened to Edison in the opposite. There were countless items that no one patented because it just wouldn't sell or it was just too popular. Edison made them better and marketable.
That's... it. Same with George Washington Carver (he is not the sole inventor of peanut butter) and various others. It's not that deep.
Coco Chanel however literally stole things from people she knew, especially women. She is no feminist.
@@piercenigel4670If I understand correctly, his company employed the inventor. And the standard employment contract says if you invent something while on the clock for a company, said company owns the patent.
@@stephaniehorne6692 thank you for your time and your answer. my comment stands, but i should not have made it - edison is a blip in my knowledge.
I’m really glad you made this video. Chanel is hugely overrated in fashion and general terms. Many don’t realise how widely hated she was after WWII in France- and not only for her TERRIBLE politics and actions. She was generally berated as a designer. To me, she was always a nepo-designer who had an interesting personal style and whose only real talent was selling her own taste as an idea - for a while.
Lagerfeld was a true saviour and the only real creative, innovative designer of the fashion house -ever!- , but now that he’s gone they’ve only continued to do the same thing again and again and again and again minus Lagerfeld’s talent to reinvent the wheel.
Chanel was a much better at marketing and business than she was at designing or being a decent human being.
It's hilarious that people were calling Chanel a one-trick pony in the 20s...
I guess the trick got play out lol 😂
I didn’t know about the theft, I only knew about her being a Nazi, which was more than enough for me to go “yikes, disgusting!” when I found out.
The USA is no different now supporting genocide created by the holocaust survivors
I am in no way defending the Nazi party. But many, many people of the time ( and likely today, and not the ones one might think) were supportive of, or felt compelled to go along with for survival. Having not (yet) lived in an occupied country during war time I will withhold judgement. Who would thought six months ago that thousands and thousands of people would be marching for the destruction of Israel? Humans seem to be more easily influenced that I would like to think. One thing that does seem to persist is those who are very successful and famous often have made very questionable exchanges to achieve that level.
@@lilolmecj so you’re pro-genocide? People are not marching for Israel’s destruction, they are protesting against the genocide of Palestinians. Over 20000 Palestinian civilians have been killed in the last 3 months. A lot of them children. They don’t have water, food or medical supplies.
People are protesting against continuous murder, torture and destruction, you just don’t see that because the people who are suffering are brown and you don’t see them as people.
@@lilolmecjVery true. It’s very easy to judge from a nice, safe environment.
“marching for the destruction of israel” lol. what a self report.
I'm not fond of anyone who is racist. The final irony is that she fought to get back control of her line from the Jewish family that acquired it. She lost in court and the result is that the same Jewish family still owns it. Anyone who aided and abetted the Germans as much as she did in World War 2 certainly didn't deserve the success she garnered.
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
I knew that Chanel had claimed other people's ideas as her own and that she collaborated with the Nazis; I hadn't known the extent to which she passed off those ideas as her own or "revised" history. Excellent deep dive! My maternal grandmother's favorite perfume was Chanel No. 5--I don't wear it because a) it would feel odd to claim something like that for myself and b) I refuse to touch anything related to that Nazi. Personally I prefer to honor Elsa Schiaparelli, that Italian artist who made clothes. (It also helps that Schiaparelli was staunchly antifascist.)
Also, No. 5 is so dated, but nobody will say it because you know, it’s Chanel. To me it is the epitome (along with Shalimar) of the Old Lady Perfume smell. barf.
@@florindalucero3236 Chanel No. 5 is dated, I agree. My own scent bias skews more toward chypres and leathers, although I don't mind smelling florals on other people.
AngryTheatre, that whole Nazi collaboration thing is a deal breaker for me.
@@grittykitty50 For me as well--I can't say I blame you for being turned off of Chanel as a result.
Let's pretend for 1 second that she was a saint; Co5 smells like shit. The worst smelling perfume I've ever encountered after BR540
She didn't even invent that logo, was previously the monogram of Catherine de Medici
Very interesting I just check it and it's real hahahaha the one of Queen Medici is more beautiful and has a royal air to it
No one invents anything.
When I was learning dressmaking in the 1960's we had to learn 'basic dressmaking patterns". How to draw, measure, how to create a garment, how to draft a pattern & sew a garment from that pattern.
I look at Chanel & see simple basic patterns.
I had a "chanel" type suit that I made for myself using a basic pattern.
She certainly was determined to survive, one way or another!
I walked into Neiman Marcus and saw a photo of coco Chanel on the wall when she visited.
She knew how to utilize her influence even if everyone else was doing so. She either knew or didn’t know but it stinks her whole story is not true but I’ll credit her on at least being good at doing business and making herself an icon even if it wasn’t true. I feel this is common amongst many influencers like Edison, Frank Lloyd Wright, today even with musk
What's wrong with Frank Lloyd Wright?
@@carmaela2689 That is what I am wondering.
Coco Chanel being a 'pick-me' girl wasn't on my bingo card for this week 🙈😑
I always thought Coco Chanel was a somewhat sketchy character at best, a thief and Nazi collaborator at worst. In my opinion her greatest talents were self-promotion and picking boyfriends
She was a Kardashian
"picking boyfriends" also known as prostitution
@@haruno21😬😂😂
THANK YOU for this: I've NEVER cared for Chanel, never understood the fuss about her staid, boxy tired "fashions". There was Vionnet, Callot Soeurs, Poiret- so many tinventive, colourful, playful designers....frankly, I think her stuff was dull...tired....
Wow Nicole, you should do more biographical deep dives like this, I know they are a LOT of work but I was hanging on with interest to every word until the very end!
Thanks for this deep dive. I knew some amount of this, but less perhaps about her derivative fashion design. She was clearly a survivor, but survived to great extent on the basis of a deeply unpleasant personality and a morality which is at best questionable and, perhaps more accurately, vicious. In reality it seems that after the war she should really have been punished for collaboration - and many many many women were in fact stripped and shaved on the basis only of having relationships with Nazis - and most of THEM were doing that simply to EAT! It's clear that Chanel actually espoused not only their life-style but also their philosophy, and I'm a bit surprised that the French authorities let her come back: as a person she lacked empathy and favoured abusiveness even in her business dealings, it seems.
In summarising her complete lack of creativity you lead me to discard what little respect I already had for Gabrielle Chanel. I look at her life in the context of her near-contemporaries like Josephine Baker or Colette who were enormously talented, incredibly courageous in the face of real risk of death but died in poverty, and Chanel is worse than a street beggar.
Amen!
A street beggar at least is honest, more than she can do
Mara, very well Expressed. MAYBE in hell 👿they🤬 will let her wear her Coco Chanel suits LOL😂
Fantastic video - the 1953 reviews are hilarious. Chanel in France, at least when I was growing up and before Lagerfeld took over, was always seen as mumsy, conservative and old-fashioned, so it's interesting to see that that was already the case decades earlier. (I never liked the Largerfeld bling either)
Thank you for the deep dive, very interesting deconstruction of an "icon" who was just very good at marketing
Mumsy is exactly the right word. I started looking at Chanel differently after Stella Tennant started modeling for KL but even then, the energy came from Stella Tennant and Chanel still looked stuffy. Schiaperelli and Balenciaga had much more exciting and marvelous work (don't know anything about them as people).
you may not like her, but to say that coco had no sartorial talent is just ludicrous.
I don't believe anyone said she had no sartorial talent.
@@martifinan998 i think it was said. @missvioletnightchild2515 said "(chanel) was just very good at marketing" . just. just that. nothing else. but nevermind. thank you for taking the time to answer.
found the quote! been searching a lot. lagerfeld said it himself that before he took over "chanel was something only worn by parisian doctor's wives"
She also stole the interlocking ‘C’ logo from the stained glass of the convent she grew up in. I’ve visited personally and the sisters will show you.
Nothing is original everything is inspired.
My Great-grandmother told me the "Take one thing off" advice and her mother in law gave it to her. Its about class.
Except that if you are already a minimalist, the advice is not only useless, but also ridiculous.
I forgot that LBD also stood for Little Black Dress and not just Lesbian Bed Death for a solid minute
I was told that about removing one accessory before leaving the house by my mom in 1965, so it def predates Michael Kors. All my gfs in college followed that rule.
Where are you from? It’s interesting that it wasn’t common enough that it was documented in *popular writing before the 90s. I first heard it in the mid to late 2000s, which always struck me as weird because I had a fashionable mother in a fairly fashionable city.
My Midwestern mom and aunts followed this practice in the late 1950's....possibly earlier but that's as early as I can remember. I believe very it was commonly taught in the sewing/fashion component of Home Economics classes.
I don’t get it, though. Did y’all really go out wearing that much extra stuff? When I go out I wear what I need. There’s literally nothing I can remove that won’t be a problem to leave behind.
Oh yes, even in the early 80’s we followed that rule. We called it the too much rule. Basically it was to make yourself look at yourself critically, then again we used an entire can of hair spray a day.
And that is why I always go outside with one earring
Yes. Chanel was, beyond anything else, a Nazi sympathizer who shouldn’t be celebrated or honored. She wasn’t a feminist in *any* sense.
As for fashion history, I’m surprised that when you talked about Chanel’s problems in the 1950s, you didn’t juxtapose her focus on “old looks” with the popular rage of the post-war era: Christian Dior’s New Look. The New Look emphasized excess as a reaction to wartime austerity, with its use of lots of fabric and lush colors, as well as on its exaggeration of the female body. The New Look was the strongest influence on fashion until the late 1950s/early 1960s.
As a historian, I’d also like to suggest that if you do history-oriented videos, you help your viewers orient themselves by mentioning the years when significant events took place. Many people don’t know when WWII started and ended, and they certainly don’t know the years of WWI (both of which were slightly different for the US than for Europe); when talking about Chanel’s union-busting, it would help to contextualize it as happening during the Great Depression, when millions of people were out of work and starving in many parts of the world. So Chanel’s tactics didn’t happen in a vacuum; she was actively putting her employees out on the streets.
She was a selfish fascist who spent the post-WWII era resenting it that her side lost the war, and that she was a one-trick pony.
The best way to call her out, "a stylish fascist." But it was often said that Mademoiselle, during the war WWII years, she was a simple but complicated "une grande horizontalle."
If someone is unaware of the timeframe of world's major events they likely have no interest in history at all and much less fashion history.
@@meeeka what does "une grande horizontalle" mean? i understand the words, but not the expression.
I think it's time to let go of the term feminist. It has a long history of racism, classism, antisemitism, homophobia, and transphobia.
I think also talking about how those wars affected fashion houses and all the workers. The fabric and notions were rationed, there were organizations/committees set up to purchase supplies, and in WWII France fashion houses had to gain permission from Germany to even work and gain access to many fabrics such as silk, wool, etc. (if I understand what I have read from memoirs from that time). Not only that but the attrition of men, women and children, from those periods. Not many fashion houses stayed open during WWII and if they did, they had limited resources, and funds, and most likely had Germans as their customers (Paris for sure). Very unsettling and sad situations all around.
Wow. She really knew how to promote herself, if nothing else. I didn’t know much of anything about her until today. Thanks for the education.
Before she was a designer, she was a courtesan, which is the most expensive kind of call-girl. It was one of her lovers that bank rolled her start up. She was quoted in a paper at the time that she enjoyed having men “fight over her delicious little body”.
Reminds me of a Kardashian.
Reminds me of a Kardashian.
Reminds me of a Kardashian.
Reminds me of a Kardashian.
Fabulous video. FINALLY an intelligent woman addressing twisted fake myth of Chanel. Kudos 🎉
Thanks for taking the time to research and clarify who Coco Chanel actually was in real life. Perhaps it’s best to note that the reason she is legendary is because as you said she knew how to market herself. Yet, I think the other reason why the “mystique” of Chanel continues is because Americans like to fantasize and have a tendency to “romanticize” and be “sentimental” about things they take a liking to. Your thoughtful presentation provides a very honest and sober look at Chanel and it’s important!
Thank you for this deep dive into what was really a great marketing campaign. Also, thank you for continuing to produce this wonderful content that everyone can view and learn from.
…”take one thing off” was in the 1947 edition if Emily Post. It’s been around for a long time.
That definitely sounds on par with Emily Post!
WOW, that is interesting. I can feel myself being dragged into a rabbit hole about this phrase. . . .
The more you know! I want more details on when it originated.
Marilyn Monroe always said to remove 1 item before leaving to go somewhere.
Very good video. The legend of coco chanel is just that. A legend. Shes held up to an ideal but her influence was jumping on every popular trend after it eas established.
I think she was very good and creating a legend.
Unfortunately the person is far from being kind.
And frankly im bothered and offended thaf Chanel's nazi ties are overlooked by the fashion industry.
the fashion industry has a longstanding habit of overlooking (outright ignoring or excusing, even) all manner of things that merit deeper scrutiny, unfortunately. it's a problem to this day.
@@etheric_dissonance fr! Im happy nowadays a lot of fashion reporters and fashion enthusiasts call out problematic aspects and histories of designers and movements in fashion history but holy heck crazy how it took centuries and decades to get to the point where its encouraged to criticise celebrated designers. However, the fact people are so willing to overlook so much horrible things that designers and houses do just to get items is disgusting. Esp when theres a rich world of archival sales.
if the fashion industry recognizes chanel's nazi ties, they will have to close all brands that existed before 1945.
louis vuitton collaborated with the nazis in vichy france. they produced objetcs (if i remember, not necessarily things related to what the brand does). someone wrote a book about it. the claim ran on only one newspaper in france. the moët henessy louis vuitton group is the largest advertiser in the country.
sorry for being so sourceless
I recall being told about Henry Ford said something along the lines of ‘you can have any colour you want as long as it’s black’ when it came to his first production cars.
I wonder if that’s the simple reason behind Chanel’s decision to make the dress black?
Unless I missed something, it appears to me that Chanel did invent something unique and that was the "simplistic" look by condensing and breaking down. Of course she took ideas from others as that is what most people including inventors and designers do when they try to reinvent "the wheel." I don't believe there are many truly original ideas. Also, as you said, she knew how to market herself/style! Her personal life on the other hand was questionable.
I've got NO USE for a Nazi collaborator.
She should have been in prison after the war and promptly FORGOTTEN.
The vast majority of people were collaborators. Ya can jail half the country.
I will say, I love the irony that the Jewish men she tried to sell out managed to turn around the brand and keep their family wealthy for generations. Good on them, for that.
@@kagitsuneThat’s really fascinating and they would be extremely wealthy. Very smart men.
@@Coastpsych_fi99 Yep, Nicole talks about it in the video.
I agree. Never liked her designs and especially her perfume, yuck.
As a Michigander living in Detroit, I’m curious if the “Ford” was more of an allusion to the fact the dress was black. Ford was known to joke that people could get their Model T in any color as long as that color is black.
While the goal of maintaining the iconic Chanel No. 5 scent was probably the goal for the 20s, 30s, etc, that is no longer true nowadays. Its formula has been heavily swung towards modern synthetics now. This started sometime after the 80s. Chanel No. 5 no longer smells like the original and I had to quit wearing it some years ago as it shifted into a fragrance that no longer smelled the same on me.
I have always hated Chanel No 5. I first smelled it in a fancy store when I was a child in the late 50s. I have never understood why women loved it so much. But I do like Chanel men's cologne.
I agree the fragrance is definitely different than it used to be! I hate the syntheticizing (my word) of my favorite fragrance.
Chanel no 5 was what my mother wore in the 1960's as I was growing up. It is the only fragrance my mother ever wore so it is forever in my memory as her scent. It is for this reason that I adore it, not because of Coco.
i find that to be true of many scents...i can't wear no 5 anymore either
It’s disgusting now
Utterly horrifying
It’s the only perfume I would wear and it doesn’t exist anymore
For several decades
It was MY mom’s perfume and she died young at 34.
I am sure u right but it super costly..smh
Finally, video that doesn't glorify a nazi Coco Channel! Thank you!
My Last Comment On This. it really helped me to understand that chanel might not have been as important as we thought in their first years, or even decades. the perfume was a hit. it serves as caution: next time you read that a brand was founded in the 1800's, don't fall for the "tradition" trap. it's impossible to really know what happen since back then, and the brand website certainly won't tell you anything negative.
i already knew the worst parts of coco's life. so this video made me like her more. the sheer persistence and smarts. it's very well-researched. it's mean-spirited. so some of the stories are conveniently cut short. it was, in the whole, illuminating. i wish there was more videos like this on the channel. thank you, nicole.
Little black dress is from some Edwardian actress who started as a proffessional beauty. About 1890’s.
1890 is the Victorian era
@@JB-vd8bi Indeed so. I think it was Lillie Langtry who caused a sensation all over London by showing up in black with no jewelry--hence the mark she made as a professional beauty, then an actress. (She was "the Jersey Lily" to the press.)
@@AngryTheatreMakerLillie was in mourning for her brother and her new husband didn't have any cash. So she found herself with just one decent dress. She wore it and adapted it for multiple occasions for a long time, often with a white collar, aware that mourning did actually become her youthful fresh complexion and auburn hair! So the combination of her simple dress and beauty made her a hit, especially with artists.
@@theoriginalsuzycat Yes, I was reading about that the other day. She was, as they say, an original.
@@AngryTheatreMaker if you get the chance watch the late 70s/early 80s series about her, Lillie, starring Francesca Ennis at peak beauty. Great watch!
Great video! What actually set N°5 apart from other fragrances of its time is the unusually heavy use of aldehydes (the note reminiscent of candle wax).
That’s amazing, as soon as read ‘Candle wax’ I knew the type of smell, but had never recognised it. Yes, candle wax! 👍🏻
So it smells like wax? I don’t think I’ve ever smelled it…
Not smelling like wax, but a certain smell reminiscent of SOME candles. Not sure if it is the actual ‘wax’ smell. But a component.
@@BeeWhistler no, does it fabi? i get lots of talc and a bit less vanilla
its a pretty stale scent to be honest@@BeeWhistler
I will admit that I LOVE Chanel No. 5 perfume. It smells so good on me and I'm not an usually perfume person. My mother got me an eau de toilette for my birthday one year. I was so happy because that stuff is expensive and I certainly wasn't disappointed it wasn't an eau de parfum as my mother was. She felt bad for some reason that she couldn't afford the eau de parfum. A few years later I was in Costco with my mother around the holidays and they had a big palette of designer eau de parfum and I dug into it to find a Chanel No. 5. It was a true eau de parfum and only $65 for a big bottle. The funny thing was while I was digging into the pile, people would grab what I pulled up as the good stuff was at the bottom. I made a few people so damned happy and I had to guard the Chanel No. 5 I found as it was the only one I could find. There were some people that took over digging when I finally got out. My mother got great enjoyment out of my digging and bought it for me. She was so damned thrilled that it was an eau de parfum. That bottle will last me the rest of my life and every time I use it, I think of my mother and that ay at Costco.
Funny, I've never understood how anyone can like that stench: it smells like a chemical factory. I have a friend who loves it, but when I meet with her, I stay at a 2 meters distance from her, so that I can avoid sensing her Chanel 5
@@msinvincible2000 People don't have the same sense of smell. There's plenty of scents that I can't stand that tons of others love. I am always very careful about how much I wear. I don't want to be one of those people that leave a cloud of scent behind. I want to be the only one who can smell me, lol.
@rof8412 perfume goes off be careful the smell doesn't change
I love Chanel No. 5, too. When I was a kid, I would go the Chanel counter at department stores and ask for a sample. Sometimes, the person working there would give me whatever samples they had on hand, so I started a collection of little perfume samples. I didn't wear them, but I would take off the lids and smell them. I had a lot of different Chanel perfumes in my collection, but No. 5 was the best.
I have always hated Chanel No 5.
I've seen "Coco avant Chanel" and I bought the film because of her massive influence in the fashion industry. The movie made me hate her. If that is showing her in a good light.... Oh boy.
This is excellent. Thank you.
My husband and I perform the music of the 1920s and I’m very interested in the clothing of that era. I really appreciate all the images you posted to illustrate your points.
It's so cool that you and your husband do that, 20's music is so much fun.
Coco Chanel famous for layering ten necklaces, so it makes sense to take one off and go out with nine
From the Indian. Culture taken.
@@phylis3917 Many cultures around the world have worn multiple necklaces, Indians included - but it's hardly exclusive to them any more than it's something Chanel invented. It's hardly a unique and innovative thing to wear multiple necklaces, the idea that it "belongs" to any one specific culture is very silly.
@@_oaktree_ well, i'd be inclined to agree, but it's not until i think the Edwardians that the real layering as a standard started in the current, western conversation. before that necklaces are much more either statement pieces or smaller, as either part of or a compliment to larger diamond sets including stomachers. is also interesting when you thing the Necklace that du barry never got and no one could afford--it had a layering kind of vibe....but it wasnt the fashion, it was a fantasy
Deauville was a race track town, the rich were always there at certain times. It’s like the Hamptons, or West Palm Beach.
I think you mean Palm Beach. West Palm Beach is where their servants used to live and now it's one of the fastest growing cities in Florida and it's where I lived for about 10 years. IT'S nice but NOTHING like Palm Beach. 😉
At last ! I have been correcting so many of my contemporaries and trainees on the subject of mrs Chanel over the last 40 years that it was getting tiresome. For many of the origins of what Chanel presented i often refer to amongst others Paul Poiret. In a cense Chanel was the first stylist. There is nothing wrong with that but it is about time that history starts writing about the difference between the art of creating original designs and copying clothes. Thank you so much for making this video
She sounds like an opportunist, wanting to stay on top at all costs.
When you spoke about how she was conservative, didn’t create something new and how the styles were not exciting, I remembered that that is what modern day Chanel is criticized for as well. On that note, one could say that they are actually staying true to the brand😅
To me a fashion designer is little different from an author. Both borrow ideas from their predecessors. The more one learns, the more one discovers how little is genuinely new. Those who become famous in their lifetime have be wit or by chance hitched a ride on popular trends. I cite Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol. He wrote at a time when his compatriots were fond of ghost stories but superstitious about invoking evil spirits. They felt safe sharing such stories during Christmas because they considered that the holiest time of year. The famous Dickens novel celebrates both the spooky and the spiritual.
Thank you for breaking down her cult!
That’s such a great way of describing her legacy and acolytes.
P R campaigns are intended to fool people, so I guess we give Chanel credit for advertising well.
Well I guess I gotta say that she's a talented marketer, and marketing more than makes up for things that otherwise would be rather mundane and ordinary 😒
Although she may have not been the creator of the jersey knit or the little black dress, one thing is certain: THE WAY she presented these oufits , or the combinations she wore, are to her credit. In a time were women would not even think about wearing trousers, she did. At a time where seaman outfits (pullovers with stripes) where only used by men, well, she wore them. She mixed diffent kind of jewellery at a time where everything was weared in a "certain way" to be classy, she broke those rules, and that is to her credit... not the fact that she created or not textiles...she had the "nose" to create trends, and this, until these times is something that common people tend to resent, specially today where even the classical brands seem to have lost their way puting in the market things that can barely have any sense of style. Actual fashion can only be compared to the one scene in the serie Emily in Paris where the fashion designer creates a runway in the street accompanied by garbage trucks...this image is so real that you can see it brought to real life in the latest fashion show held in Milan... The good times of true fashion, true trends and style are gone... unfortunately.
Most Designer’s, Lie, and Always copy each other, they began a terrible fixation on Skinny, Vain, wealthy women .
I already knew about some of this--the podcast "Behind the Bastards" did an episode on Coco Chanel and specifically her Nazi connections. She was not a great person, although I'll admit the Audrey Tautou film about her is lovely simply because Audrey Tautou is a fantastic actress.
That movie Coco Before Chanel is the thing about Chanel I like the best 🙃
Fantastic video. I would love to get a series of other historic fashion designers. Genuinely enjoyed the watch.
Henry Ford said you could have his car in any color you liked, as long as it was black. Thus, the "Ford" dress.
Thank you! I was thinking the same thing,
Really appreciate the depth of research you put into your video essays Nicole, and all the first-hand sources you cite (& show onscreen). Really helps reinstate vital historical context that gets lost over time! (Or in cases like Chanel's, intentionally muddled by the individual themselves & their publicity machine... 😬)
If it was a topic that interested you, I'd love to see a vid on Queen Victoria and whether her influence on fashion & mores of her era was really as indepth as history paints it to have been, or whether she was more remaking her personal image to follow already-existing trends of the time, as a way to retain popularity and political influence...? She's another high-profile female figure whose place in history seems to have been heavily mythologised, and whose behind-the-scenes character seems to have been not especially nice!
Very interesting and eye-opening video. Thanks Nicole. I've never understood the fascination with Chanel, to me most of her designs look old-fashioned. Even House of Chanel fashion nowadays is mostly boring and doesn't look good on most women. I totally ignored all the facts from her life, and appreciate learning about her personality, which from what you've reseached, isn't any better than her fashion line...
Interesting that you put this is, as I just recently found out about her and her ties to the Nazis.
As always, I love your content, and look forward to your projects and posts!
Love this video! I know people love YT shorts, but personally… I love deep dive videos. Thank you Nicole!
Me too!
I like both but I love deep dives. My hubby watches alot of shorts, and his attention span has gotten a little smaller. We're not old, so it's not senility, lol.
Class is in session. I always learn something from Nicole, and she has such a captivating way of telling a story. I've never been much of a designer brand fan, but I imagine there'll be quite a few Jews discarding Chanel from their collections after discovering this fascinating peice of history. Thanks Nicole. I always thoroughly enjoy your videos.
Jewish community knows Chanel was a bigoted as they come. Its white liberal women that seem to turn a blind eye to antisemitism... again.
Its not the same but I know of an extremely beloved film director who I shall not name that people worship yet he has done absolutely terrible things by his own admission, casually and with seemingly no remorse, in his autobiography and yet his fans will not acknowledge it or they brush it off.
They live in denial, having formulated a version of him to their liking based off of his "quirky" public persona and they willfully keep the lies going. I'm utterly sick of this kind of behavior, this perpetuation of a fictional version because the public is too weak to admit that the person they idolize is actually a monster- even if the object of their affection admits to horrible acts. There's so little integrity these days.
All else about her aside, Chanel No 17 (bath oil) I think was the most amazing creation ever. I bought a bottle of this at a perfume shop in Harvard Square, Cambridge, in the 1980s. It was the warmest, most sensual scent ever. I was told by the person who sold it to me that it was Coco's personal scent and therefore not advertised. It was difficult to get and I treasured every bottle of it I could get as if it were solid gold. A bit of that in one's bath, and people would follow you around the whole day remarking on how heavenly you smelled. I practically wept when I ran out of my last bottle.
I wish no.5 was still made
Truly miss it
It was my mama’s smell
As shown in the video and other people may also mention in the comments.
Chanel really didn't invent more like popularized or outlasted/outlived her other competitors (such as other 1920s Paris designers).
Like as you said in the video, contrary to what most pop history states.
It is notnexactly as simple as Chanel being the one credited in making black a non-mourning color. As sources show, it was already a well known fashion choice before she was even born
Such as this one
"The correct dress for housemaids is, in the morning, a neat, light-colored print dress, simple cap, and large white apron, with a coarser one to tie over the latter while grates, etc., are being cleaned.
In the afternoon she should change into a black dress, turned-down collar and cuffs of irreproachable whiteness, and muslin cap and apron of rather more elaborate pattern. […] the usual print and black dresses, etc., the maid herself provides.’
From:
(Every Woman’s Encyclopaedia, 1910-2) "
I have read a book where Coco Chanel was referred to as a stylist, not a designer.
Hi, I know this has absolutely nothing to do with the video. But I absolutely need to know what color green your set is. I'm restoring a 1890 to 1900 home and need this for the formal dining room.
Thank you so much for your videos. You're an inspiration.
I love your in-depth dives into fashion history! I recently read one of Chanel‘s biographies and came to the realization that she was something of an a-hole… Very well done, Nicole!
Wow! So thorough. It's hard to respect an early business woman who aligned with Conservative men over working women, especially as war was beginning. Her negative impact on families has a direct correlation with her financial enrichment. Without the perfume, she would not have been able to sustain herself over the years. It time to find the feminist designers from a century ago.
I love not only the subjects you discuss - I also love the way you present the information to us!