Chanel’s complex legacy
“Coco” Chanel transformed women’s fashion across the world.
Distinguished Professor Peter McNeil, School of Design.
Gabrielle Chanel, photograph by Henry Clarke, published in Vogue France, 1954. Paris Musées. © Henry Clarke, Paris Musées / Palais Galliera / ADAGP. Copyright Agency, 2021
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, friend of artist Jean Cocteau and lover of musician Igor Stravinsky, transformed women’s fashion across the world. Pablo Picasso said of her: “Chanel is the woman with the most sense in Europe”. Chanel’s fashion vision transformed both women’s appearances and definitions of luxury for the 20th century.
How did she pull this off, what is the continuing attraction, and how do we recognise her complex background, difficult choices and ongoing legacy?
With the opening of a new show, Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto, at the National Gallery of Victoria, curated by Paris fashion museum the Galliera (supplemented with works drawn from the NGV’s collection), Chanel’s life and work are in the spotlight once more.
Read the full story in The Conversation: Friday essay: Chanel’s complex legacy
