Significance of Coco Chanel's Fashion in the 20th Century

This paper evaluates the significance of Coco Chanel’s fashion styles and creations in the 20th Century socioeconomic realm. It discusses her iconic two-three piece suit, Little Black Dress, and Les Parfums Chanel. Chanel's fashion revolutionized women's fashion and influenced the role of women in society.

Running head: FASHION HISTORY
FASHION HISTORY
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1FASHION HISTORY
Introduction
Coco Chanel successfully revolutionized women’s fashion in the early 20th Century when
she launched a more comfortable silhouette. This silhouette essentially freed women from the
uneasiness of corsets and frills which had subjugated the then apparel industry. Coco Chanel’s
fashion influenced the role that women had in the society which gave women a place in the
community and have being accepted into the work society (1). People during the 20th Century
perceived that Chanel was a ‘revolutionaire’ in the fashion world. Chanel significantly leveraged
the societal patterns of 20th Century with her expanded the fashion that was accessible to women
which paved the way to greater amount of opportunities to women. The following paper will
evaluate the significance of Coco Chanel’s fashion styles and creations in the 20th Century socio-
economic realm.

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Discussion
Significance of Coco Chanel’s Fashion in the 20th Century
Reports by Conrad (2016) have revealed that significant to other fashion designers of the
20th Century, Coco Chanel has significantly refurbished and modified trends or fashion to the
belief of efficacy as well as reliability of materials, tenets which significantly signified attributes
of modernism. Chanel’s importance on the functionalism of sportswear and her appropriation
from menswear and further from service and army uniforms that broke with classic haute-
couture dress fashion as well as practices (2). Furthermore, according to Rubin (2018), being
pragmatic and focused, Chanel’s clothes were designed with practical standard of living
applications. Chanel’s early sportswear companies had transformed certain restraining
Edwardian principles. Chanel’s jersey significantly divided of skirts, dresses, woollen cardigans,
jackets that enlightened women generated from the pretences of dressing for an event or for an
chosen time of day.

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Chanel’s Iconic Two-three piece suit
The iconic two-three piece suit invented by Coco Chanel during the 20th Century
Chanel’s most iconic design, right away identifiable in its continual transformations. However
although launched in the teenage, it was post 1954 that the fashion trend involved such
distinctive attributes such as gift buttons and braiding to sketch out and strengthened the hem,
cuffs as well as lapels of the jacket. With soft and informal fit, Chanel’s suits typically have been
made from light and loosely woven tweed that demonstrate Chanel’s inclination towards ease
and comfort. In addition to this, skirt pleats and jacket sleeves with high cut armholes used to
assist movement. While blouses typically designed to align the lining of the jacket tend to
illustrate practical details such as buttons with workable buttonholes and self-tie blows that
proposed great versatility within essence of minimalism (3). The iconic two-three piece suit by
Chanel acted as no active reader but successfully browsed among the French moderns as a
typical form of self-defence. This significant theme launched in the period of 1963-1968 not only
shaped the way women perceived themselves but also the image they carried in public. With the
progressive design of the two-three suits, Coco showed that women across the world can lead
self-governing role with utmost strength and empowerment.
Chanel’s ‘Little Black Dress’
Chanel’s ‘Little Black Dress’- Evening versions of Chanel’s ‘Little Black Dress’ were
launched with the fundamental purpose of exhibiting egalitarianism facet of the society. Reports
by Asenov (2017) consider the ‘Little Black Dress’ as a successful example exhibits women’s
sharp sensibility for scooping neckline forms during the middle of 1920’s (4). It has further been
noted by Stone and Farnan (2018) that these Chanel dresses reflecting Chanel’s art of mitigating
mistakes is still in recent times viewed the same art that is required by the generations of women

4FASHION HISTORY
who have been desiring of owning ‘the little black dress’ of Chanel. At this juncture, Asenov
(2017) has shed light the way the dress created instantaneous chaos in the fashion world (5). As
black clothing in the 20th Century primarily signified either the clergy or servant class or during
times of bereavement, thus opting black as a fashionable colour itself instigated immense shock
among the public. Nevertheless, the minimalism and economy of the dress posed great appeal to
the women of the Great Depression era of the 1930’s that reflected a time of severe economic
disorder following the crash of the stock market in 1929(6). Thus with the simple piece of
clothing in the wardrobes of women, affected by the economic crash, they a certain extent
aligned to the lifestyles of the high-society women. Chanel’s creation of the Little Black Dress
enabled wide range of fashion designers to persuade her fashion creativity. For example, by the
end of the 20th Century, almost every prominent fashion designers starting from Ralph Lauren to
Donna Karan incorporated ideas of little black dress into their clothing lines (7). The dress was
thus signified as a prominent emblematic of a woman’s autonomy of preference along with equal
involvement in important activities of the society and proudly owning the dress for herself.
Les Parfums Chanel
World War II opened significant avenues for Chanel to take regulation from the
predominant Wertheimer who belonging to the Jewish community had eloped from the nation
during the advent of the Nazis (8). Chanel during that time informed the Nazi authorities with the
claim of Jewish ownership on Les Parfums Chanel as other such fashion enterprises should be
distributed to her. However, according to Sugimoto and Nagasawa (2015), the transition of
Chanel No.5 into the range of world’s most renowned perfumes occurred with the launch of the
diverse American market. Furthermore, Amalancei (2018) identified a new kind of magnificent
market that chiefly involved the middle-class buyers. Chanel’s launch of Les Perfumes primarily

5FASHION HISTORY
lied on the engaging Chanel No. 5 to the cultural mainstream whereby it could reach out the
women who loved reading fashion magazines like Vogue and further the patterned their
hemlines (9). Coco Chanel through this massive creativity attained a recognition whereby the
perfume Chanel No.5 signified a significant much loved fashion entity, though unattainable yet
there to be viewed and coveted. Furthermore the illustration of Bouquet, recognized as a French
fashion model of the 1970’s represent state of affairs of the era which was fundamentally marked
by the cult of triumph and success. Furthermore, the ideal of female beauty of the 1980’s
according to Terasaki and Nagasawa (2014). was no longer identified as starved little girl such as
Twiggy or the ladylike elegance of the 1950’s but signified as a sporty, well-built and
determined woman who attained significant success at her professional as well as personal
domain (10).

6FASHION HISTORY
Conclusion
Therefore from the above discussion on three significant themes of Chanel namely two-
three piece suit, Les Parfums Chanel and Little Black dress not only created significant uproar
but also indicated immense aggression and self-assertion in the society of 20th Century. It is the
significant contribution of Chanel that articulated the story that a woman who possessed Chanel
was greatly aware of all her attributes and desires with a strong sense of independence.

7FASHION HISTORY
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