The Order Of Preference: Little Black Dress> Chanel Suit> Chanel Jacket
Marion Morehouse wearing Little Black Dress by Chanel, photo by Edward Steichen, Vogue 1926
Gabrielle Chanel used black that was used only for mourning before she created the phenomenal Little Black Dress. The color had extremely negative connotation before it became the symbol of the absolute modernity. It was a revolution of winning modern times from conservative past that covered all women to their toes. The dress has became the universal rule of modern women’s style transcending the time of Chanel.
Every time I see the picture I feel magnificent freedom rushing in to my world. The only reason why I became a fashion designer is because of Gabrielle Chanel. Since I was 10 when I first read a biography of her, the shade of Chanel followed my every step. The strongest illustration from the book that I will never forget for eternity is the Little Black Dress. It palpitates in my identity as a person and a designer until now. The reason why I selected System and Society’s path in Parsons is only because of the influence Chanel. As she achieved it through her life including the innovation of little black dress, I will become a designer who changes the pre-existing conceptions in a society. I have been working for that for 12 years. It is absolutely similar to my design style and my personal style. I am a black maniac and crazy about transcending current ideas through design choices.
Yola Letellier at the races in Chanel, 1927
It is the picture of a Chanel suit in 192os that can be represented by a short dress and the use of jersey. The short dress of Chanel gave an iconic representation of modern women in early 1900s. Jersey was an inexpensive fabric that was mainly used for male’s underwear before Chanel.
The image gives an impression of independence and ambiguity. The impression comes from Chanel’s choice of from liberating women from pre-existing sexuality. Chanel painted a new picture of women in relation to their social status of past by providing an extremely practical form of a dress.
Paul Schutzer, photograph of models wearing Chanel suits featured in LIFE magazine, September 1961
The jacket is the best symbol of practicality of Chanel by showing a careful construction considering the placement of a pocket and the length of sleeves.
The jacket reminds me a memory that I had before I knew Chanel. I wondered about the definition of a jacket. I remember I questioned why a women’s jacket looked extremely similar to the form of 1960’s Chanel suit that I now know. The design of the jacket conveys my design philosophy. Even though I agree on the truth that a creation is another form of imagination, I always like to focus on ‘what is there’ than ‘what isn’t there’. My designs never communicated with the brands like Comme des Garcons or Martin Margiela even though I value their design identities. Actually, staring at extremely twisted imagination coming into reality stimulates me too much and it naturally makes me suffocating. I dedicate myself to the brands like Chanel, Alexander Wang, and Yves Saint Laurent, who conveys imagination into practicality.
