Chanel: The Vocabulary of Style Author: Jerome Gautier | Language: English | ISBN:
0300175663 | Format: EPUB
Chanel: The Vocabulary of Style Description
Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (1883-1971) was undoubtedly the most influential fashion designer of the 20th century. Her clothes and accessories have remained perennially chic, and her legendary fashion house continues to exert a powerful sway over today's designers. Jérôme Gautier tells the story of Chanel's iconic style through hundreds of images, many taken by the leading lights of fashion photography, including Richard Avedon, Gilles Bensimon, Patrick Demarchelier, Horst P. Horst, Annie Leibovitz, Man Ray, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, and Ellen von Unwerth. This innovative volume pairs classic and contemporary photographs, placing fashion plates from Chanel's time alongside those by the house's designer-in-chief, Karl Lagerfeld. For instance, Cecil Beaton's portrait of Chanel appears alongside Lagerfeld's image of Cate Blanchett emulating her, and a classic plate by Henry Clarke flanks an arresting shot by Juergen Teller.
Through these dazzling photographs, Chanel: The Vocabulary of Style identifies key elements that have defined Chanel's style for generations, such as jersey and tweed, formerly considered menswear fabrics, and the little black dress, which transformed a hue previously reserved for mourning into a statement of elegance. Pearls were her staple, and she often embellished outfits with her signature camellia. Eleven chapters compare the original forms of these enduring trademarks with their later expressions over the years and to the present day, letting the vocabulary of Chanel's style speak for itself.
- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Yale University Press (November 29, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 9780300175660
- ISBN-13: 978-0300175660
- ASIN: 0300175663
- Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 10 x 1.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 5.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Jér?me Gautier (a Paris based journalist and fashion historian), has created a sumptuous ode to Chanel via the greatest fashion photographers who ever lived.
Similar in format to Daniele Bott's Chanel: Collections and Creations, Gautier takes eleven key Chanel style elements and juxtaposes the original forms of the trademarks with current day innovations, letting Chanel's enduring style speak for itself.
Each chapter contains a brief history of the key style element and gorgeous archived and contemporary fashion photographs of models and celebrities:
Chapter 1: The Body Liberated - Chanel's fashions liberate women from corsets
Chapter 2: Little Black Dresses - The LBD and its place in fashion history
Chapter 3: Black into Night - Dresses go to ankle length for day, brushing the floor at night - black is no longer just for mourning
Chapter 4: Baroque Inspirations -Chanel is introduced to Venice by Misia - "queen of modern Baroque"
Chapter 5: 31, Rue Cambon - Chanel buys the building and adds surrounding properties to create Maison Chanel
Chapter 6: Youth and Evolution - Chanel's life - fact and fiction
Chapter 7: Simple Chic - The enduring appeal of Chanel hats
Chapter 8: Androgyne - Chanel creates clothes based on the comfort men enjoy
Chapter 9: From Tweed to Tweeds - Chanel's enduring corded tweed suit
Chapter 10: The Total Look - Accessorizing with Chanel
Chapter 11: Rebel - Chanel Fashion as defiant as the woman herself
At the end of the book is a legend to each fashion photograph. The photographer, model or celebrity, Chanel collection the item came from, magazine or book where it first appeared are all documented.
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