With more than a century of fashion history to its name, the house incomparably epitomizes French savoir-faire.

Ask almost anyone&nbsp;to name the most iconic French fashion&nbsp;brand&nbsp;and&nbsp;we&nbsp;bet&nbsp;the reply will be the same&nbsp;each time: Chanel.&nbsp;In the world of fashion, the&nbsp;house of Chanel has become synonymous with luxury, sophistication, elegance&mdash;and France.&nbsp;The&nbsp;paragon&nbsp;of Parisian chic, champion of&nbsp;haute couture, guardian of the famed&nbsp;maisons&nbsp;d&rsquo;art, and a pioneer in women&rsquo;s fragrance and beauty, Chanel has always been the fashion house for the&nbsp;beau monde.&nbsp;And, fueling it all&mdash;the forces animating its spirit&mdash;were two of fashion&rsquo;s most innovative and visionary designers:&nbsp;the house&rsquo;s namesake and founder,&nbsp;Gabrielle &ldquo;Coco&rdquo; Chanel, and&nbsp;Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel&rsquo;s creative director until his passing in February of this year.&nbsp;&nbsp;

How&nbsp;a small millinery shop on 160 Boulevard&nbsp;Malesherbes&nbsp;transformed into one of the world&rsquo;s&nbsp;most recognizable luxury brands&nbsp;is due&nbsp;largely to the indomitable spirit and creativity of Gabrielle Chanel, whom many would&nbsp;refer to simply as &ldquo;Coco.&rdquo;&nbsp;A striking beauty with an unmatched eye for the trends of her time, not mention an awareness of what was missing, Chanel was equally at ease with&nbsp;the avant-garde&mdash;composer Igor Stravinsky, notably among them&mdash;as she was with the age&rsquo;s jet-set, and&nbsp;she&nbsp;parlayed her skills into&nbsp;a brand imagined for the modern woman of the age.&nbsp;Within&nbsp;around a&nbsp;decade of its founding, Chanel&nbsp;had&nbsp;captured&nbsp;the attention of the&nbsp;world&rsquo;s&nbsp;fashion elites:&nbsp;first&nbsp;in 1921&nbsp;with the launch of her&nbsp;legendary&nbsp;eponymous&nbsp;fragrance&mdash;Chanel No.5,&nbsp;decidedly modernist in its packaging and refreshing in its&nbsp;champagne-like sparkle&nbsp;(owing to the ingenious addition of&nbsp;aldehydes)&mdash;and then again in 1926 with the introduction of what would become known as the &ldquo;Little Black Dress,&rdquo; the simplicity and elegance of which&nbsp;were&nbsp;unlike anything women had available to them before.&nbsp;As&nbsp;Harper&rsquo;s Bazaar&nbsp;noted in 1923 of Chanel&rsquo;s creative designs, &ldquo;simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.&rdquo;&nbsp;Having rapidly established herself as&nbsp;a designer&nbsp;par excellence,&nbsp;Chanel&nbsp;paved the way&nbsp;to establishing her&nbsp;house as an unstoppable force in women&rsquo;s fashion.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Chanel was equally at ease with the avant-garde as she was with the age’s jet-set.

a3ktwe.jpg

By the time Karl Lagerfeld assumed the role of creative&nbsp;director of Chanel in 1983&mdash;after the passing of its founder in 1971&mdash;the house had established itself as the epitome of&nbsp;luxury. Lagerfeld, who&nbsp;previously had been&nbsp;at the helm of Chlo&eacute;, immediately adapted the&nbsp;savoir-faire&nbsp;of his predecessor, incorporating many of Coco&rsquo;s hallmark design elements&mdash;tweeds, gold accents, chains, and padded leather&mdash;while also aligning&nbsp;these&nbsp;with the spirit of his own time.&nbsp;Under&nbsp;Lagerfeld&rsquo;s&nbsp;stewardship, Chanel expanded its global reach, tapping into new markets internationally and connecting with&nbsp;a&nbsp;new generation of consumers. With an uncanny eye&mdash;much like Coco Chanel&mdash;Lagerfeld was able to connect the world&nbsp;of society elites with the faces of popular culture, acutely aware of the latter&rsquo;s&nbsp;ability&nbsp;to extend the&nbsp;brand&rsquo;s&nbsp;reach. If Andy Warhol was the expert at understanding pop culture&#39;s influence&nbsp;in art, Lagerfeld was equally his match in reading the tea leaves&nbsp;to propel Chanel&nbsp;forward&nbsp;as a cultural driver.&nbsp;&nbsp;

But if Lagerfeld had one eye firmly on the future, he was also&nbsp;deeply reverential toward&nbsp;the&nbsp;traditions of France&rsquo;s cultural heritage.&nbsp;Like Coco Chanel, Lagerfeld incorporated French artisans in the production of his&nbsp;haute couture&nbsp;creations, going so far as to work with Chanel CEO&nbsp;Bruno&nbsp;Pavlovsky to establish&nbsp;Paraffection&nbsp;in 1997. This&nbsp;subsidiary of the company aimed to&nbsp;support artisanal manufacturing, gathering the various&nbsp;maisons&nbsp;d&rsquo;art&nbsp;under one umbrella.&nbsp;

With Lagerfeld&#39;s death earlier this year,&nbsp;the creative reigns of Chanel now belong to his longtime collaborator, Virginie&nbsp;Viard.&nbsp;And while the world awaits the next chapter in the house&#39;s history, the legacy that began with Gabrielle Chanel will undoubtedly continue for generations to come.&nbsp;&nbsp;

1932_0130_0000_001.JPG

Simplicity Is Key: Celebrating Chanel's Parisian Chic

Tags

Recommended posts for you

Pop culture

All the Celebrities at Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024

Fashion

New NYC Store Openings in 2024

Be Well

What Is the Winter Arc? The Self-Improvement Trend Taking Over Social Media

Fashion

Get a Sneak Peek At Sabrina Carpenter’s Outfits for Her Netflix Christmas Special

Fashion

Los Angeles Fashion Week Gets Closer to Finding Itself in 2024

L'Officiel Art

Your Ultimate Guide to Art Basel Miami Beach 2024: Galleries, Exhibitions, and Events

Pop culture

Discover Paul Mescal’s Best Films and Series’ to Watch After 'Gladiator II'

Fashion

Of Course Telfar’s New NYC Store Isn’t Like Any Other