Case Study Part 2
Designer Legacy: Chanel
Chanel’s managing director Marie-Louise de Clermont-Tonnerre stated the
decision to hire a designer who did not carry the name of the design house (Chanel)
was revolutionary. When Karl Lagerfield became Artistic Director of Chanel, Inc.
fashion in 1983, the business started to grow again. Lagerfield’s design skillfully
combined the Chanel legacy with his contemporary fashions by using the
interlocking “C” symbol of Chanel Couture on his clothes and accessories. This
branding look advantage of the 1980s consumer love of status symbols. It also
helped revitalize the House of Chanel. Chanel executive Richard Collasse says the
company’s continued success is due to the fact that “while we stay in torch with our
roots, reaching back some 100 years, we have always been striving for modernity.”
ANALYZE and WRITE
1.
What revolutionary move did Chanel, Inc. make in 1983?
2.
How did Chanel extend its lines to fashion items other than clothing? Write a
paragraph giving examples.
CHAPTER 1.2
Fashion History
What You’ll Learn

To identify the needs satisfied by clothing

To discuss the early history of clothing

To name some influential people in fashion history

To identify specific styles in the 20th century.
Why People Wear Clothes

Physical Needs: Protection

Psychological Needs: Appearance Enhancement

Social Needs: Affiliation and Standards
Sources of Clothing History


Clothing tells us a great deal about social values at
certain times in history.
Centuries ago, people dressed according to what
society allowed for the social class.
Historical Trendsetters

Elizabeth I
 Queen
of England
(1558 to 1603)
 This looks consisted of Tudor
ruffs (large, round collar),
epaulets (shoulders ornaments),
jeweled wigs, plucked forehead
and brows, rub-crushing corsets,
and the farthingale, or skirt
hoop.
Louis XIV



King of France (1643- 1715)
He sent life-sized fashion dolls
to every European court, so
that all of Europe would know
about Paris Fashion.
Exquisite dolls were dressed in
the latest styles. Tailors coped
the clothes, footwear, hats, and
accessories on the dolls for
nobility in other countries.
Marie Antoinette




Queen of France
(1775 to 1793)
She was a trendsetter for
ornate styles of the late 18th
century.
She used papier-mâché paste
to whiten and stiffen her hair to
extreme heights.
Her excessive fashion included
high headdresses, plumes and
voluminous dresses.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis


She brought her understated
elegance to fashion of the
early 1960s as First Lady of
the United States.
While her trademark
pillbox hat and her suits with
three-quarter sleeves were
famous, she had a sense of
style for any type of attire.
Beatles


Famous trendsetting
British band, wearing
“mop-top” hairstyles.
This fashion from the
working classes
challenged the
shorthaired, conserved
look of the crew cut.
Fashion:


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th
20
Early 1900s
1920s
1930s-1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
Fashion Today
Century to the Present
Discussion


What are three needs are satisfied by the use of
clothing?
What fashion trends emerged in the 1980s?