Blog post by Karl Lam ’24.

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Looking for a wardrobe staple that stands the test of time? Dorothy Schefer Faux ‘69 knew the answer from the beginning: the Chanel jacket. Faux donated a black jacket with white trimmings from Chanel’s Fall 1998 Collection to the Cornell’s Fashion and Textile Collection. Faux, Vogue’s Beauty Editor, said that the Chanel jacket was a versatile piece with the brand’s signature three-quarter sleeves – perfect for writing and editing (DeVito, 2020))

The most salient element of design in this jacket is the use of line and the contrast of value seen in the white trimmings around the black jacket’s edges and the pockets. This emphasizes the outline of the jacket and  elongates the collar and lines of the jacket, making the wearer appear thinner. Other elements of this jacket include the flap pockets and a lack of buttons, thus creating a continuous line throughout the jacket. There is also the delicate brass chain sewed on the inside of the jacket’s hem—a Chanel signature—that ensures a perfect drop to the silhouette (Vintage Voyage). 

The Chanel jacket is made of 60% Polyester, 15% Mohair, 11% Wool, 7% Nylon, 5% Acrylic, 2% Rayon. Although the fabric may have originally felt scratchy and rough, it appears to have softened with age. These material clues, as well as considering Chanel’s heritage, suggests that this jacket is made of tweed fabric. According to Vintage Voyage, “Chanel was attracted to tweed due to its traditional nature and its practicality. Tweed is very supple because of its diagonal broken twill and loose texture. It is definitely lighter than broadcloth (for the same reasons) and it holds shape while hugging the body.” 

This jacket’s tweed material was likely manufactured through harvesting wool fibers, cleaning, spinning, dyeing, drying, blending, teasing and carding before finally weaving. Whilst tweed was traditionally handwoven on a loom, it may now be mechanically woven with the loom passing wefts through the warp to create the weave (Turner). 

Indeed, the history and meaning of the Chanel jacket goes beyond the item itself—it reveals post-war history, women’s liberation and the future of femininity. When Coco Chanel first designed the jacket, she wanted to liberate women from restrictive corsets and long skirts during the Belle Époch (defined as the period from 1871 up until the First World War in 1914.) Chanel envisioned a design that was elegant but also allowed them to move freely, and she was inspired by the suits that her then-boyfriend, the Duke of Westminster, would wear. The Chanel jacket quickly became a hit (Vernose, CR Fashion Book). The Chanel jacket offered simplicity and freedom of movement, directly contrasting Christian Dior’s 1947 “New Look,” which emphasized small waists, large bows, and long gowns. 

We can connect Ms. Faux’s 1998 jacket to a Chanel print ad from that same year. Though it is not the same piece, we can see that this primary source shares connections materially, conceptually, and aesthetically with Ms. Faux’s jacket. The model, Stella Tenant, has a boyish frame and cropped hair, evoking the concept of masculinity; the position of the model’s body, with her arm raised upright and her legs wide apart symbolize Chanel’s original concept of freedom and women’s liberated movement. Meanwhile, the material is a similar woven tweed and the aesthetics, including the narrow collar, flap pockets and use of contrasted linear trim around the hems is almost identical to that of Ms. Faux’s 1998 jacket. 

In the 50s and 60s, the Chanel jacket became a status symbol for leading ladies of high society, including women like Jacqueline Kennedy. Perhaps a more contemporary secondary source that we might make connections to is Pablo Larrian’s 2016 film Jackie, which follows the life of the former American First Lady. As in real life, Jackie Kennedy on screen wore a pink Chanel style jacket with a matching skirt and pillbox hat on the day of her husband’s assassination: “The pink suit we made for [Natalie] had buttons, chain, and the period label, lent by Chanel,” said costume designer Madeline Fontaine (Hallemann, Town & Country). In the book Grace and power: the private world of the Kennedy White House, Sally Bedell Smith writes: “JFK decided he would help Jackie plan her wardrobe. […] He made a selection of pastel outfits including a nubby pink wool Chanel suit with a navy-blue collar and matching pillbox hat to wear in Dallas” (434-441). While Mrs. Kennedy’s jacket features the use of point through gold buttons and Ms. Faux’s jacket uses line to draw attention, both jackets exude a simple aesthetic, boxy shoulders, straight lines and share the same woven tweed material. 

However, there’s a special twist in this story! To many fashion historians, there’s a great debate about the authenticity of Mrs. Kennedy’s “Chanel” suit. According to Justine Picardie’s biography of Coco Chanel, Her Life, Jackie Kennedy was a genuine Chanel client, but in her husband’s political limelight, she was under fire for spending $30,000 on Parisian labels and supporting foreign designers. However, Picardie notes that Mrs. Kennedy had “Chanel outfits sewn for her in New York by a dressmaking establishment called Chez Ninon. The garments were not fake or pirated, but made to order using materials supplied by Chanel in Paris.” Throughout history and popular culture, Mrs. Kennedy’s Chanel jacket has made us question fashion authenticity. So I ask all of my readers: is this imitation, a fake, or a line-by-line copy? And does authenticity even matter in today’s fashion world? 

 

Karl is a sophomore in the Hotel School who took FSAD 1250 in Fall 2021. He is passionate about interior design, hospitality and community service! (@karlxlam)

 

References

“1998 CHANEL : Stella Tennant Magazine PRINT AD.” https://picclick.com/1998-CHANEL-Stella-Tennant-124014452410.html. Accessed 27 Nov. 2021.

“Chanel, Autumn/Winter 1998, Ready to Wear | Chanel Jacket, Chanel Outfit, Fashion.” Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/348958671106147677/. Accessed 27 Nov. 2021.

“Chanel Jacket.” Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection, #2002-05-043-01. Department of Human Centered Design.

DeVito, Jackie “A Vogue Editor’s Wardrobe | Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection.” CU Blog Service – Cornell University Blog Service, https://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcostume/2020/08/13/a-vogue-editors-wardrobe/, Aug. 13, 2020. Accessed 27 Nov. 2021.

Hallemann, Caroline. “How Jackie’s Costume Designer Recreated That Iconic Pink Suit.” Town & Country, Town & Country, 21 Feb. 2017, https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/news/a8811/jackie-film-pink-suit/.

Picardie, Justine. Coco Chanel. Harper Collins, 2013.

Smith, Sally Bedell. Grace & Power. Aurum, 2011.

Vernose, Vienna. “Why the Chanel Suit Is So Iconic – The History Behind the Chanel Suit.” CR Fashion Book, CR Fashion Book, 28 Feb. 2019, https://www.crfashionbook.com/fashion/a26551426/history-of-chanel-tweed-suit/.

Vintage Voyage, https://vinvoy.com/blog/Chanel-Tweed-Jacket-Success/. Accessed 27 Nov. 2021.

“What Is Tweed? A Guide To ‘the Big Cloth.’” Joseph Turner, https://www.josephturner.co.uk/customer/pages/about/what_is_tweed. Accessed 27 Nov. 2021.