Starting with the title, ‘’The Chanel revolution’’, I think that, since the writer is extolling the revolution that the designer maid in the fashion industry back in time, the title could have been ‘’The Coco Chanel revolution’’. This can seem silly, but the connotation that Chanel has nowadays has nothing to do with what Coco Chanel’s used to be. Nowadays, the company lives mostly of marketing campaigns and cosmetics. Most of the people who buy this brand don’t do it because of the values they used to have, but because of the social position it implies to buy Chanel.
I think it is interesting that he/she used Coco Chanel as an example of the fashion industry who had the aim not only to make clothes but also to transmit a message through design, which is also very necessary today. Raise the role of women in society and give them power and at the same time comfort and beauty. Coco definitely made a change and became an icon and reference in the fashion world. However, do you think Chanel continues to be what Coco Chanel achieved to be when it started? I personally don’t think so.
While it is true that multinationals take advantage of the influence of these great referents such as Chanel by copying there designs, I also believe that Chanel has somehow lost the artistic essence and purity that it used to have. I have the feeling that, over time, it becomes increasingly difficult to recognize the artistic side in this type of companies and more emphasis is put on the business part by analyzing how the firm can get more money from its activity regardless of the artistic development. This fact can be proven since most of the brand’s income is obtained from makeup and its cosmetic products.
However, I believe that its portfolio is well focused since it refers to how this company used to be in its beginnings and how it has managed to create an empire that has lasted a long time. However, this would be difficult to justify today because, as I said earlier, we are in a phase in which the fashion industry is changing completely and it is increasingly difficult to justify that part that goes beyond clothes.
Having said that, I would like to take advantage of this reflection and invite you to think about what the fashion industry is becoming. In my opinion, the world of fashion seems to be less flexible and is increasingly in the hands of very few. I also believe that this is also because of the appearance of the fast fashion. People no longer value clothes as part of a difficult artistic and reflective process. On the contrary, people seek low-priced clothes underestimating the side effects that this entails in many areas, starting by the design process among others.
By Beatrix Kiddo
Making sense of art and design industries 