Sep 152011
Chanel: The Vocabulary of Style
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
List Price: $ 100.00
Price: $ 61.92
Chanel through the eyes of the greatest fashion photographers,
Jérôme 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.
This book comes in a beautiful pink hardcover slipcase, measures 9 ½ by 12 5/8, contains 211 gorgeous color and black & white illustrations and weighs in at six pounds.
I also recommend:
Chanel: Collections and Creations by Danièle Bott – The book explores five central themes–the suit, the camellia, jewelry, makeup and perfume, the little black dress–and follows the threads from past to present to show how these key items have been rediscovered and reinvented by new designers.
Jacques Helleu & Chanel by Jacques Helleu – Jacques Helleu is the eye behind the House of Chanel’s enduring image, having explored the meanings of this legendary brand in daring commercials and fabulous print ads for the past 40 years. He has given tangible, glamorous shape to the essential mystique of Chanel’s perfumes. This beautifully designed and lavishly illustrated volume tells the story of Helleu’s vision.
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|Mostly Lagerfeld,
I received this as a requested gift and although it features some beautiful photography, I’m disappointed and annoyed–because I think it’s being marketed in a way that would have you believe it’s about Coco Chanel–but it’s really not. What it does is give her some lip service with a smattering of photos. The balance–roughly 75%–is about Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel magazine ads from the 90′s & 2000″s; which I’ve already been bombarded with for the past 20 years.
I’m interested in fashion history from the early 20th century and wanted a biography / historical timeline of Coco Chanel’s collections and was hoping for a substantial coffee table book featuring ONLY that. Does such a thing exist? Or must every recent publication pay homage to Lagerfeld? I’m asking because I’d love a tried and true recommendation if anyone has one.
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|Chanel: The Vocabulary of Style,
This is a wonderful book showing a stunning collection of Chanel’s creations both from the past and the present along with multiple shots of Coco Chanel.
The book is large and thick full of spectacular photographs both color and b/w showing the pieces at their best.
The book also contains concise chapters detailing the sources of inspiration behind the creation of the illustrated garments, thus, putting the pieces in a wider context.
This is a highly recommended book for all fans of Chanel and beautiful fashion photography.
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