The Anti-Chanel Thread

[ProstituteHair]

There's been a Chanel thread recently.

I'm agin modern Chanel.

I honestly don't get it.

I understand Chanel's ethos and desire.

Modern Chanel leaves me cold. I find it all aesthetically displeasing.

I'm all for floating your boat, but not a quilted and logoed one.

I'm happy to be told I'm wrong.

I don't understand Chanel's house aesthetic.

Enlighten me.

You don’t get it, you don’t get it. Chanel obviously isn’t for you.

Luckily there’s so many other brands and designers and catering to all budgets and styles.

I don’t think anyone needs to try and convince a random stranger why Chanel should float their boat.

I suspect you’ve just posted to be goady.

I think the bags are plug ugly.
But I do like really, really the tweed jackets, although I've never seen an actual one and I'll concede some of the high street knock offs can be a bit grim.
And I love the tangled up necklaces.
And, although she didn't invent trousers, I think it can be argued she made them cool which is alright by me.
And what a life story!

I probably don't know enough about modern Chanel as opposed to the original. What don't you like?

Soz missed a word:
I do really, really like the tweed jackets etc

Often joke that I spent much of my childhood sitting on a stool in Chanel, Valentino, YSL et al that all feel like an extension of my family. The way all have evolved over the past decade aren't to my taste or in the original spirit of the house.

But, out of them all, I do still have a major soft for Chanel, even though the quality is no longer there and the design direction hasn't quite found its feet since Lagerfeld died. That's not to say Virginie Viard isn't good at what she does, but there's no flair. I often wish Phoebe Philo would have taken over, I would have loved to see her at the helm.

Chanel is all about making money now, so their focus is on make-up, perfume and small leather goods/handbags. Shoes too. It only retains its exclusivity status because the majority of their products are not sold online.

I do still buy the occasional item, but there's less each season I desire, or more pertinently, want to spend money on.

I should be all over this (the only Chanel I like is the makeup), Coco Chanel has a chequered past (WWII specifically, but it's not cut and dry, Churchill himself intervened) but she was definitely an innovator and in current times are keeping dying crafts and associated companies alive. Modern Chanel is definitely not my thing aesthetically and I'm always surprised people who buy into it don't realise it's bourgeois caricature and take it at face value which means the irony is lost. In more recent times the quality has dropped and the replicas have gotten a lot better, it means that all new Chanel looks fake to me now and some fakes look like the real thing. The whole thing is odd, yet fascinating to observe.

But I see no harm in people having a thread where they want to exclusively chat about that 🤷

Aha!

Nice, we've got it going!

Obviously slightly goady @Sunnydays0101.

I don't need to convince random strangers of anything.

I likes a design rumble.

And here we go...

(& yeah @Floisme the bags are pug-ugly).

Chanel has evolved since the KL days, it’s now a global powerhouse of creativity and luxury that just keeps on building momentum. It’s not for everyone granted, but there’s no denying it’s never ending success keeps growing year on year.

@bunnybunnybunnybunny & @botemp

Good to see you here.

I absolutely have no beef with people that enjoy fashion or labels. I do!

I think my beef is with the route Chanel has taken which has seuged from the original.

And @bunnybunnybunnybunny my mother was an Ossie Clarke and YSL 70s fan.

But at the risk of repeating the demographic thread, Chanel was once very European. That's not where the money is anymore and the brand now reflects that.

The gold hardware on the bag used to be plated 24 carat gold. Now it's just gold tone metal. Not so luxurious after all. Yes, there's no denying it's a global powerhouse but as a result, it's lost something that made Chanel so special.

What I do love about Chanel is how they support métier such as Maison Lemarié and Maison Lesage, so the Métier des Arts shows are ones I still love to pore over.

I'm interested in this route and how it's different from that of any other fashion brand with a heritage. Aren't they all about making money (bags, belts and perfume) now?

70s YSL is the best, my mother's true love. (And partly why Saint Laurent post Hedi Slimane is so jarring to me). Clark was a bit too bohemian for her, although she had some 70s Chloe, a little Jean Muir and lots of Jean Pallant.

I want to love current Chanel, but gosh, I think they're rapidly losing sight of who they are and what makes them so special. That said, I respect anyone's choice to shop there but for me, there are other brands whose aesthetics and creative design appeal more to me.

But, who knows what the future will bring? That's the exciting thing about the fashion industry, the thrill of the new.

True @bunnybunnybunnybunny I like the cut of your jib.

Have you been here before?

And yes, fuck Hedi Slimane!

Chanel just looks and feels cheap to me now, especially the handbags. The lack of gold plating, the poorer quality leather, gaudy novelty styles and the fault-riddled finishes have really downgraded the house.
The multiple price increases the last few years are laughable - paying US$10k for one of their handbags is obscene, given how cheap they are to make.

I think Chanel (and probably also Hermes) present themselves as a continuum, style over fashion even though it is very much fashion.

Tbh it makes it a sort of sifting system among the fashion tribes, if your 'in' with fashion is that Chanel/Hermes slant it's fairly incompatible with the more anti-fashion (Japanese/Belgian) tribe that incorporates the style over fashion as their raison d'être even though they're not really that different. However, within in the tribes they feel very distinctively not the same and regard each other with suspicion.

And, yes, fuck Hedi Slimane (he was fine at Dior Homme though, if only he'd just stayed there).

I just spent five minutes with my DD in my wardrobe (it's my birthday so a time of reflection), saying 'when I die, don't let them sell it, it's yours'

She might not even want it, but it is hers (in my will), I've got some nice peices and I do have specialised wardrobe insurance. She can dispose of it as she will.

Thanks bo.

This is not my world at all but I'm going to hang out anyway.

I love Chanel perfumes. But the rest of the brand - I just don’t think it’s marketed to people like me. I’m not fabulously wealthy, so if I spunk £10k on a handbag it really needs to last generations. These days you can get clothes/bags with similar design and better quality at a fraction of the price. But the ideal Chanel customer is so rich they don’t worry about quality - the more expensive the bag, the better it is for showing off their wealth.

I spent years working for Chanel (beauty) and I thought it was all very overrated 🙈 (we used to get huge discounts across the whole brand, not just beauty). But then we’re all different, people probably wouldn’t like half the stuff I buy and enjoy! (Birkenstocks I’m looking at you…)! 👀😆

I went to their shop to look at the bags once. I couldn't see how the quality matched the price they're charging, and that was a good 6-7 years ago, so it is probably double now. I do own 2 Chanel jackets (KL years) so I'm not completely against the brand. Whereas I can at least see the workmanship in Hermes leather goods. I look at the queues of people at the Chanel store every time and just despair. I'm not sure that's the brand image they want to convey, but it makes them tons of money so I guess it doesn't matter?

I can’t get past the collaboration aspect whenever anybody brings up heritage and Chanel. Especially as so much of their iconic design is tied up to Coco Chanel’s identity. It’ll always be glamourising her on some level and that makes me uncomfortable.

I’m not squeamish about the cost (it’s not how I’d spend my money, I’m a jewellery girl, but no judgement on those who do), I just don’t see how it’s worth it when (from what I’ve read on purse forum etc) the quality seems to be decreasing.

It just all seems so completely irrelevant now - and has done for years. I can’t remember the last time I felt a rush of excitement seeing a model stride down a catwalk or across a magazine page in Chanel, as I did in my teens and young adulthood.

And (I’m sorry, and properly ashamed) it’s the only design name that immediately prompts the thought “kept woman” when I pass someone with a bag over her shoulder. I know women buy their own luxury goods now - I do myself - but something about the current Chanel image rubs me up the wrong way.

So I often forget it exists - and have never felt the slightest interest in owning any of it. (Show me a Paul Harnden skirt, or a Guidi boot, or any of a brief list of purveyors of emeralds …)

I watched a Chanel documentary a few years ago. The old woman who did the tweed braiding was really interesting. She was also running a farm and was getting too old to carry on. She tried to teach her technique to Chanel employees, but they just didn't get it. She was in her 80's at the time. The tweed jackets are beautiful. I've often looked at buying second hand.

I read that Chanel want to compete with Hermes and that's why they have the insane price increases whilst the quality of the bags has deteriorated. Maybe to keep up with increased demand?

Documentary is on You Tube

This article may be of interest https://theleathercrafter.wordpress.com/2022/08/05/chanel-flap-bags-honest-review/