1930s New Yorker article: Coco Chanel's revolutionary style
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1931/03/14/31-rue-cambon I'm still just dipping my toes in fashion history, but it's cool to read contemporary accounts of stuff. Lots of interesting echoes with today in how designers get inspiration from sports clothing, working class style, etc.
The New Yorker
Coco Chanel’s Revolutionary Style
Janet Flanner’s 1931 Profile of Coco Chanel, whose peculiar genius may lie in the fact that she, the most expensive couturier of her time, was born poor.
4 Replies
The article was written in 1931 so not quite such an insane claim
Lol
Yeah obviously some pretty important context. I think the connection to how we think and write about our own contemporary designs was what really interested me about the article
Like plug in a few different details and then voila you've got a profile of Demna. I was expecting the way this stuff was thought about in the 1930s to be more different
I skimmed your article a couple of days ago, I should go back and read it properly.
Got sidetracked into reading this halfway through a paper about Thayaht actually. All the books about him seem to be in Italian, but seems like your period so was wondering if you had any suggestions?
Yeah he supported Mussolini unfortunately. Although Wikipedia claims he spent the 1930s looking for UFOs 
from the article I'm reading is that he didn't invent the boiler suit, but he was pretty innovative suggesting it as a kind of anti-fashion
from the article I'm reading is that he didn't invent the boiler suit, but he was pretty innovative suggesting it as a kind of anti-fashionAlso compulsory to post the Mussolini buttplug whenever you talk about futurists
What is it with 20th century fascist fashionistas
“Before you leave the house to collaborate with the Nazis, look in the mirror and take one thing off”