Happy New Year! I hope wherever you are in the world you had a wonderful time and I wish you all the best for 2010...
Christmas is always a fun filled time for me because it's my birthday the week before, so there's lots of celebrations, and, of course, lots of presents! I got some wonderful gifts this year but one of my particular favourites was from my best friend Hannah, who bought me a copy of "Coco Avant Chanel"... a true sign of just how well she knows me!
It's probably quite fitting that one of my early posts is about Chanel, as it has to be one of my all time favourite fashion houses. I feel a bit cliche saying that because it seems that in the past few years, thanks to a number of young celebrities, Chanel has become particularly popular and almost overworn. Now, I'm not one of those people who stops liking something once it becomes popular, because quite frankly that's just ridiculous, but I feel like people only really know Chanel for the classic quilted bag, and it's a shame because there's just so much more to this amazing house. Watching Coco Avant Chanel really makes you realise this, it's fascinating to learn about Gabrielle Chanel's life before she moved to Paris, and it's even more incredible to learn that she never even wanted to make clothes originally. Just imagine if she never had, women's fashion would probably have taken so much longer to progress, she was such a revolutionary. The way she saw the female body was so different to anyone else of her time, which I think in large part was thanks to the fact that her own body was very different to the other women of the age - she had a far more boyish shape, and wasn't as curvy and so the fashions of the time just didn't seem to work for her, and so she set about making clothes that she felt were more flattering. I honestly feel like women owe her a lot.
The film in itself is beautiful and I recommend it to everyone who has any kind of interest in the fashion world, or even if you don't. One of the things that makes it so wonderful is Audrey Tautou, she is just stunning, and she captures Chanel incredibly. Just look at her...
She was so good in this role that Karl Lagerfeld has taken her on as the face of Chanel No.5, and quite frankly what could be more fitting - a classic face for a classic fragrance. Expect to see quite a few posts about Chanel adverts on here, I am a huge fan of them, they're always just so beautiful.
One thing I have noticed since watching the film is that Lagerfeld features hats quite heavily in his collections now, a nod to Chanel's original profession... a very fitting tribute to an incredible woman.
*This was one of my favourite adverts for Fall '09. I want the entire outfit.
