Chanel in 1993

Ten years on from his debut, working from Mademoiselle’s own atelier in rue Cmabon, Karl Lagerfeld had a free hand. His assured idea of his role in the House of Chanel, coupled with a shrewd knowledge of his audience, led him to make some outrageous statements on the runway.


From 1991 onwards, the black skirts worn with white shirts and low slung chain belts were inspired more by the sassy, savvy working girl than by the charmed life of Chanel. As in the 1920s and 1960s, women were enjoying a new fitness boom and another spurt of financial independence, so they were not going to let the rewards of these pursuits vegetate, they wanted to spend their money on clothes and accessories that were as sassy and savvy as them.


Women were by now accustomed to the flashier, sexier shape of Chanel clothes. This sexiness was part and parcel of the fashion scene as a whole and meant that any resistance to the changes taking place in the House of Chanel was unnoticeable. A new generation of women had become devotees of Chanel and the old guard, for the most part, was enjoying being helped to look young again.


There were, of course, copies of this new, sexy couture style but, in using street themes as the inspiration for their designs.


In Chanel’s early days, the future of fashion had been sportwear, its fortunes had turned full circle and it as now firmly back in the limelight once more. Several big fashion empires launched sprtwear lines during this period and the question on every designer’s lips was : how formal would fashion ever need to be again?


Ladies who lunched would now be skating to the restaurant and dressing in a way that rendered the need for tailored clothing in the daytime defunct, entreated Lagerfeld. On the street, Chanel jackets were being worn with ripped jeans and cowboy boots, so was it not indeed more valid to start at that end and work on from there? These informal ensembles were heavily dependent on accessories, for without them this would just be another youth look. However, with the earrings, overseen by Victoria de Castellane, it was something special. It was so hip to hurt.





Sources from Book - 《Chanel : key collections》by Melissa Richards