In 1913 the fashion house of Coco Chanel will be a 100 years old. For this occasion Karl Lagerfeld who we not only know as a fashion designer for Chanel but also as a devoted fashion photographer takes us back to the early days of the Chanel house.
The scenes are situated in Deauville, France in 1913, when Gabriele Chanel opened her first hat shop. The movie shows episodes from just 2 days in which Gabriele Chanel's carreer is launched from a hopelessly empty shop to a shop full of customers and tons of new orders. There are beautiful dresses and extravagant hats walking by, and a few well-known society names of those years like Mrs. Wanderbilt, Ms Grey, the actress Eve Lavalliere appear.
Lagerfelds says his movie is much better than the 'Coco avant Chanel' movie from 2012. His choice of actress (Keira Knightley vs. Audrey Tatou) should be better and the image he pictures of Coco Chanel should be much more accurate. Well, obviously he needs some attention... One thing is clear: his movie is strongly focused on the visuals. It is full of almost photographic images. Lagerfeld is known for his love for tall and thin models so don't expect much more on that front. The conversations are short and superficial. There are more fashion models posing than real actresses acting. At one point even a hideous 'black widow' character walks by (definitely a mix of Cruella de Vil and Lady Gaga imo), probably symbolizing the fashion era that Chanel is ready to leave. But: there are a lot of pretty images and it is still lovely to watch because of the huge amount of early 1910's dresses and accessories he shows in less than 15 minutes.
Gabriele Chanel is portrayed as a fresh, young woman who has an eye for unusual details. She is very outspoken about what she does like and doesn't. She also dares to ask her rich, famous clients where they got their jacket, hat or pearls. One happens to wear her husband's tweed jacket, the other has one that is made out of men's underwear fabric which she finds interesting. We already get a hint of where her inspiration and ideas came from and get to see her growing affection to tweed fabrics, men's suits, long strains of pearls and short haircuts.
The best thing: there is supposed to be a second short movie in the make portraying a later period of her life. Can't wait!
Again, here are a few screenshots. Enjoy!
In the first scene we see two women walking by the shop. They aren't rich, wear plain white clothes but have pretty knitted capes:
The young Gabriele and a midlle-aged woman (she thinks looks hideous):
The first costumer actually wears a hat she'd bought from Coco. Coco loves her outfit, including the hat, jacket, pearls and even the cane...
A custom made jacket made out of men's underwear fabric and long strains of pearls catch the attention of Coco:
Pretty in lace!
Look at the ribbon closure of that lace dress!
The opposites: the feminine and masculine styles of the 1910's:
The rich and the middle-class women (in the movie all what is future-oriented and hungry for something new seem to be portrayed in white and light colors. All that is conservative and traditional is symbolized by black/dark colored outfits)
"I think I need to cut my hair":
The first costumer returns the next day in a lace dress:
Street style:
In the closing scene a lady wonders how they will think about Chanel over a 100 years:
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