Kanzai
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- Joined
- Oct 5, 2023
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Fair points. TBH, I’ve never been particularly drawn to most of Mademoiselle Coco Chanel’s works, just like I’m not really captivated by most of the “greats” from the past century like Cristóbal Balenciaga, Paul Poiret, or Madeleine Vionnet. Maybe that makes me a fashun follower with no real taste, and that’s fine, lol. It’s just that their creations feel quite distant from my own aesthetic sensibility and, to some extent, from that of many people today who have at least lived through the 2000s.I think Chanel’s legacy on her own in the current public imagination is impossible to separate from Karl’s impact on Chanel. The cooooonnnstant references to her and her codes and her history. As future focused as Karl was, he didn’t let us forget about Coco. Their legacies are quite intertwined. Before Karl, Chanel was a dusty crusty brand for doctor’s wives. If Karl’s vision for Chanel didn’t work… who knows where the brand would be today. Maybe No. 5 would still be available for sale at every cheap drugstore and she’d just be remembered as a collaborator? Or maybe not, maybe they would have found a different successful designer and we’d have a different perspective on Chanel. Regardless, Karl’s work and success at Chanel rehabbed her image and the house so much.
And yes, like you, the Chanel I admire is the legacy Karl left behind. My favorite works of his are from the Métiers d’art collections, even though some might argue those were not his best offerings. Karl wasn’t a revolutionary figure in fashion, but he refined and expanded Coco’s vision in a complete and far-reaching way. Maybe I shouldn’t have tried to compare who was “greater” in the first place. It’s kind of like, if Coco was Karl Marx, then Karl Lagerfeld was Lenin
