Chanel chat thread

[AprillaCourt]

As some of us really enjoyed talking about Chanel on my white bag thread I thought I'd start a Chanel chat thread here 🙂

I'm a lover of all things Chanel - the history of the brand, the life of Gabrielle Chanel herself, & of course the products. It would be great to have like minded others to share our knowledge & wares with 🙂

@highfidelity
@Snowite
@schmalex

I'm nametagging you as (I think) you said you'd like a chat thread/were very much involved in my white bag thread!

If anyone hasn't seen it, Justine Picardie's book on the life & work of Gabrielle Chanel is fantastic. This is a good link to learn a little bit more: www.chanel.com/gb/fashion/news/2011/03/la-vie-de-mademoiselle-une-biographie-par-justine-picardie.html

All welcome 🙂

I've heard it on documentaries/from SAs variously as:

Ka-pell
Cape-el
Chappelle

🙂

There's a street in Dublin called Capel Street.
It's pronounced Kaypel Street.

This is all very interesting @MummyJ12 🙂

Agree re: the Chanel app.

What's the drop in price for pre-owned Chanel clothing like? It varies so much with the bags (Classics holding their value far better than 2.55s for example) & I wondered what it is like for clothes... 🤔

It definitely depends on what the item of clothing is, if it’s been a runway item for example. It also depends on condition and how covetable the item is.
My little black jacket will only go up in price. It’s resale value being at around 10K at the moment (the book alone goes for £400-500!)
Same with my blazer. I saw one on for just under 10K a couple of weeks ago. My jackets are in excellent condition and in a popular size which also makes a difference to the resale price.
My houndstooth one is not as valuable probably around 1-2K but I love it very much so it doesn’t really matter! I’ll never have to sell any of them hopefully and my DD will get them.

Love this thread! I no longer have a Chanel budget, but the Boy discussion prompted me to post, I adore the Boy perfume. I'm eking out my last of it - a teeny 4ml bottle. It goes without saying No. 19 EDP is beloved  but I do like Les Exclusifs - Beige and Boy are my favourite for Spring/Summer and Sycomore and Coromandel for Autumn/Winter.

I keep my eye out for samples/minis or half used (genuine) bottles as I cannot afford full bottles these days! More items seem to be available than before, I wonder if people are selling off "luxury" stuff due to tightened budgets?

Loving the jacket photos upthread @MummyJ12 it makes me smile that the bouclėt/tweed jackets are currently "in fashion" at the moment and everyone wants one. To Chanel fans, these style of jackets are not just "fashion" they're style.

I am going to be That Person though, but I do always feel slightly "guilty" about my love for Chanel, given her own behaviour/association with Nazis and their regime (her discussion of lovers reminded me of Hans Günther von Dincklage!)

How many companies and brands would we boycott though, judging on past historical (as well as current!) associations/involvements? That of course, would be a much wider discussion and I would honestly prefer to stick to discussing/admiring bags and perfume on this thread (no doubt this is contributing to my feeling of guilt and hypocrisy!) I think this is why I feel compelled to bring it up. Obviously I am not amongst them myself, but I do know Jews who avoid Chanel for this reason and sometimes feel it is the elephant in the room in discussion, especially when her own personal behaviour is mentioned.

As said up thread though, she had a huge influence on women's style and feminism and I admire her for this. (I still dislike suntans though and cannot wear Breton style tops myself, even with a boat neck!)

This post is very inarticulate as I am very tired. I am off to scour sites for perfume...

No idea why, but Chanel couture and the history of the house, has always been of interest and I follow on social media channels the collections and their production (love to see the skills in producing couture items). I've got / read books on Chanel, very interested in the artisan aspect and the other companies they've saved and now within their group ownership. I even kept a booklet from a preview of a Chanel sale, at Sothebys, a few decades back now, but a great opportunity to see items up close. No purchases and no plans to ever do so, but I do have a few collarless, tweed, very Chanel inspired jackets, including a made in England, black cotton velvet suit, very much Chanel in inspiration, purchased new from M&S in the early 90s (doesn't fit, but never letting it go) and the odd string of good costume pearls. Hoping to see the exhibition at the V&A.

@OhJustFuckOffAlready As Gabrielle herself said, fashion changes, but style endures.

I know what you're saying re: Chanel & her behaviour in the wartime period. Actions in an occupied country are complicated to say the least. I haven't read anything new for a while, so may have missed more recent research & revelations, but I believe there is supposition about her wanting to get her nephew out of a PoW camp, & she may have assisted to achieve this. Her behaviour & attitude towards the Wertheimers was terrible but at the time wasn't seen with the revulsion we feel today (which was part of the problem of course.) Modelhut was an abject failure, based on almost comic misunderstandings of the British position in general & Churchill in particular. I think many people have concluded that Chanel wasn't naturally in bed with the occupiers, but attempting to survive the situation, with real life relationships going on alongside her high profile. Hence the giving away of No 5 to the liberating GIs. I read someone once saying her behaviour was at best naive & questionable, & at worst shameful, but not in the same league as the terrible crimes against humanity that were being committed all around her in that ghastly period in history.

I've never got on with neutral colours in clothing as an entire outfit - I've rarely worn camels, creams & beiges at all really, only with with black or navy but never alone. Tonight I've ordered some nude shoes & I have a notion to try & track down some beige/camel trousers to wear with my new white jacket & a neutral top. I may actually leave the house not wearing a base of black or navy!

This new white bag has clearly got me stepping out of my comfort zone, & that's no bad thing 🙂

@ivfregret Come & join us 🙂

I noticed this thread yesterday and wanted to share a picture of one of my most cherished bags. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a decent picture so was resigned to not sharing. However, have just found this online and it's almost my bag - mine is black silk! Well, I say mine, it was originally my mother's - I can still remember helping her pick this out in Chanel on Sloane Street.

There's a stitched interlocking double C on the back which isn't clearly shown in the pictures.

It's a lovely little bag.

Hi @bunnybunnybunnybunny 👋🏻

That is delightful, thank you for sharing it 🙂

It's lovely that you have that memory with your mother. She was evidently a very stylish lady 🙂

A note to those who mentioned the forthcoming Chanel exhibition at the V&A in September.

The first batch of tickets went on sale last month and have already sold out.

The next batch of tickets go on sale in June. Sign up here to ensure you will receive a notification email on the day the tickets are released. Be advised the tickets sell out quickly.

Absolutely beautiful 💗

Thank you for sharing your beautiful jackets. Will freely admit I do not like blazers but even I can appreciate the Chanel/Andrea Sachs one!

My mother (if she was still with us) would fight you for the black & white with velvet trims, as would I! No-one does a monochrome like Chanel.

But it's this jacket I most adore - it's just classic Chanel. It is also similar to one my mother purchased back in the early 90s, although instead of fabric braid, hers was trimmed in gold/black leather - the same as the straps on the handbags. It was designed to wear open, so there were no buttons to fasten it. Although my mother and I are the same size, I'm far more busty than she is, so it didn't hang nicely on me. I sold it. A huge mistake. I really regret not hanging onto it because it was beautiful.

Do the jackets still have a white hand-written label inside?

Thanks so much @bunnybunnybunnybunny 🙂. I’m sorry that you don’t have your mum’s anymore. We all do things like that though. I know what you mean about the jackets that are designed to wear open. My black and white one doesn’t fasten other than the bow at the top.
None of my jackets have a hand written label. I imagine that they would be a true gem of a vintage find! I agree with you that the black one is super special. I feel really lucky to have it. It’s one of the few pieces that Karl Largerfeld did “looking back”. He always wanted to “look forward”. Hence some of the questionable neoprene collections…..! Virgine Viard is much more nostalgic in her collections IMO and although Karl was a legend, she incapsulates the spirit of Gabrielle more in that she has comfort, wearability and practicality in mind for women when she’s designing.

Anyone watching the Largerfeld programme on BBC2?

Is it on iPlayer? What’s the title please?

The Mysterious Mr Lagerfeld

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001lfff/the-mysterious-mr-lagerfeld

Thanks for this, I’ll put it on my to watch list!

Thanks @BoysBagsShoes & @bunnybunnybunnybunny I'll try to catch that 👍🏻

Thank you @bunnybunnybunnybunny I’ll watch that over the weekend. DH is back from business trip.

Having watched that programme last night I was left a bit confused - although maybe it was intentionally vague. Was the accountant in Switzerland hiding with all of the estate in order to avoid the French authorities (death taxes) or was he there as he’d “done a runner”?

Hi I think it would haven been 2008. Ah well. Glad I bought my other designer bags when LV was £350 for a large bag (batignolles vertical) that was 16 years ago