Chanel News
I had never heard of Chanel's "blog" of sorts - Chanel News - until this season's Spring/Summer 11 fashion show. The blogger Alex Loves, whom I follow on twitter, was blogging officially for Chanel NEws, from the front row no less (and next to Alexa Bloody Chung!!), and she introduced me to the site. It is a fascinating thing for such a luxury powerhouse to have. It is a blog, but one of the key purposes of the blog is to 'deconstruct' the luxury. Most of the pictures are "behind the scenes" photos of the making of ads, photoshoots, fashion shows, parties. They strip away all the artifice, the airbrushing, the conceit, until what you have left are just the bare bones. Most luxury houses are wary of this primarily because luxury thrives on its inaccessibility, its conceit, its artifice. If you take that away you take away the level of desire that comes with elitism. I think, though, Chanel thrives on the elite made real. One of their main strengths as a design house is their ability to bring a sense of high fashion into an everyday reality - despite the fact that Karl might be a little more extravagant than Mdme Coco herself, he is remarkably true to her original philosophy. Keep it simple. With all her jersey shirts, boat-neck breton tops, easy long skirts and comfortable ballet flats, Coco Chanel brought a fashion revolution throw early 20th century Paris and London with her keen sense of the necessity that drives fashion.
So, in a way, these photos are not the deathknell of high luxury for Chanel, in fact they tie into a tradition of style and design that goes back to Coco herself. They reveal the reality behind the clothes - the models in rehearsal, the team of hundreds who assist on photoshoots and campaigns, the make up piled up in corners, the lengths gone to to get that one fantastic shot. Leave it to Dior and Dolce and Gabbana to keep a smokey, alluring screen between their product and the customer. Despite all the high-jinks, the antics, the fur yeti costumes and the profound Karl-isms, Chanel dispenses with that smokescreen altogether. It is all about the customer, who, through Chanel News, can see perfectly clearly.
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