![]() (The Cs didn’t show up until the ’80s, when Karl Lagerfeld designed a version on which they replaced the traditional Mademoiselle enclosure.) Then, in 2005, Lagerfeld went back to basics. Over the years, the 2.55 has been interpreted in dozens of different colours, sizes and materials. ![]() That formative era also inspired her most recognizable aesthetic flourish: The Cs date back to a pattern in a cathedral’s stained-glass windows. The lining of the bag is the same shade of chestnut favoured by the wealthier girls in the convent where Chanel spent her girlhood. (The chains also had a sensible function-they freed women’s hands.) Ropes anchoring a yacht inspired the chains threaded with leather. The puffy jackets worn by the horse breeders at her boyfriend’s stables led to the bag’s signature quilting. Other inspirations came from her own life. The gentle curve of the outer back pocket was inspired by the The seven pockets- themselves a revolution in practical design- include an inner one that Chanel intended to be solely for love letters. Its name is a reference to February 1955, the date of its first sartorial splash. Paris Haute Couture Week, Fall 2010-11: Chanelīut the bag also has its secrets. More about Chanel’s secrets on the next page… The result is an indisputable couture piece. Between six and 15 people work on each bag, using only the softest skin from the belly of the lamb. “The Chanel 2.55 holds the history, the longevity of a true icon and the relevance of modern design that certain bags of the moment just can’t compete with.”Įven on the surface, the 2.55’s appeal is obvious. “Iconic pieces like the 2.55 are collectibles passed down from generation to generation,” explains Barbara Atkin, vicepresident of fashion direction at Holt Renfrew. It’s an equation that keeps gaining momentum as the economy remains slack and eco concerns grow about the effects of fast fashion’s “love ’em and leave ’em” attitude. In fashion, beauty plus history often equals an investment piece. Then there’s the 2.55, the most coveted of all Chanel bags, which has entered the pantheon of the world’s most iconic pieces. Put simply, the work endures: the jacket, the camellia, the LBD (which was dubbed “the Ford of Chanel” by Vogue). ![]() The juicier bits get most of the ink-the doomed romance with Boy Capel, the aphorisms now immortalized in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (“Fashion fades, only style remains the same”)-but, more than anything, it was that commitment to perfection that has secured her top spot in the fashion canon. A personality like Chanel’s inspires legends. “This has been made by a woman who is not happy,” she would declare and then toss it into the reject bin. Every once in a while, she would pause, frowning as she held up a seemingly flawless bag. Her allfemale staff watched in silence, their nails perfectly manicured, hands free of cream or gloves-Chanel insisted that they needed to feel the bag in order to properly create it. She was checking for the hallmarks of superb craftsmanship- precision stitching, the exact alignment of the double C-but also for less tangible qualities. Just before quitting time at her Paris atelier, Coco Chanel would stroll around the room, inspecting the 2.55 handbags that had been made that day.
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