The little black dress in the Coco Chanel style is not just a classic, it is the most popular classic of the women's toilet. Women's wardrobe without a small women's dress, at least one, is simply impossible.
Gabrielle Chanel was born in the small French town of Somour in the Loire Valley on August 19, 1883. At the age of 11, after the death of her mother, she was taken to a shelter where she learned to sew. At 20, she entered a boutique as a saleswoman. An additional income for her was singing in the Rotunda cabaret. For the most popular songs in the repertoire, "Co-co-ri-co" and "Qui gu'a vu Coco" she was called "Coco". Soon, Gabriel moved to Paris, where in 1909 a friend Balzan helped her open a store of women's hats (in which the famous little hats appeared). A year later, Gabriel, with the help of her beloved, wealthy Englishman Arthur Capel, opens his own fashion house in Paris opposite the Ritz Hotel. Her new clothing style revolutionized the fashion of the 20s and, as a consequence, the fashion of the twentieth century. The main signs of Chanel's new style are comfort, simplicity, efficiency, naturalness and elegance. Creating her models, Gabrielle worked only on fashion models, forcing them to move and gesticulate.
Ms. Chanel creates the image of a new woman: a short haircut, a tan, trousers, simple linen dresses, tight straight coats.And in 1926 the famous “little black dress” appeared: barely covering the knees, with a round neckline - in combination with bright red lipstick, a string of white pearls and black pumps, it looked laconic, elegant and erotic. The dress perfectly complemented the aroma of Chanel No. 5 perfumes created by then (in collaboration with perfumer Ernest Bo) (according to Coco, “perfumes for a woman who smells like a woman”).
A black cocktail dress knee-length, a symbol of elegance and grace, is constantly present in fashion shows. Designers of various levels endlessly supplement it with new fashionable details, sew it from modern materials, experiment with cutouts, sleeves, length, silhouette, make it more ascetic or more erotic. But with all this, the little black dress of twenty or fifty years ago does not seem outdated.
I wonder how many “little black dresses” are in your wardrobe?
Photo: BOYKO, SHEMETOVA
Material prepared by Elena Karpova
