The Tamesis
Last week, Chanel published in Vogue , a two-volume tome that explores the intersecting histories of the French brand and the magazine between 1910 and 2025. Gabrielle Coco Chanel was at the helm of the brand for 46 years (she closed her ateliers during and after World War II); Karl Lagerfeld is 36.
Chanel, who designed the clothes she wanted to wear, remains the brand’s north star. The headstrong French orphan who was educated by nuns, turned gangster, and later became a businesswoman is not only her own best model, but the quintessential modern woman who wants to strut around the world in simple, streamlined clothes. She values action and agency and is dismissive of other designers who, in her view, treat women simply as canvases for decoration.
Before Matthieu Blazy launched his second ready-to-wear collection for the brand, and using Chanel imagery from Vogue magazine, here are some connections then and now that show how Coco’s spirit lives on.
