Sharalee Lewis
Coco chanel: little black dress

Coco Chanel was the only person in the couturier field to be named on Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century.  This honour was given to her because of her huge influence on women’s fashion. At a time when women were wearing corsets and big heavy skirts and hats that were overflowing with adornment, Coco Chanel offered a radical alternative with sleek clean lines, liberating women from corsets.

She took black; a colour normally reserved for mourning and made it a staple in every woman’s wardrobe. Where would we be without black in the closet?  She started the Chanel line, which introduced the little black dress and pearls, the collarless jacket and the pillbox hat. Chanel No 5 has been around since the 1920’s, hard to believe. Much of the fashion that Chanel championed is still with us today after almost a century.

It was Coco Chanel’s goal to make clothing more comfortable for women to allow them the opportunity to work and play in clothes that were comfortable. How could women enter the workforce if they could not move? She used men’s fashion influences and materials in a new and fresh way. The jacket was a new fashion choice for women and provided a professional uniform for the workplace.



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Sharalee Lewis
Coco Chanel:
Little Black Dress

Coco Chanel was the only person in the couturier field to be named on Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century.  This honour was given to her because of her huge influence on women’s fashion. At a time when women were wearing corsets and big heavy skirts and hats that were overflowing with adornment, Coco Chanel offered a radical alternative with sleek clean lines, liberating women from corsets.

She took black; a colour normally reserved for mourning and made it a staple in every woman’s wardrobe. Where would we be without black in the closet?  She started the Chanel line, which introduced the little black dress and pearls, the collarless jacket and the pillbox hat. Chanel No 5 has been around since the 1920’s, hard to believe. Much of the fashion that Chanel championed is still with us today after almost a century.

It was Coco Chanel’s goal to make clothing more comfortable for women to allow them the opportunity to work and play in clothes that were comfortable. How could women enter the workforce if they could not move? She used men’s fashion influences and materials in a new and fresh way. The jacket was a new fashion choice for women and provided a professional uniform for the workplace.