“Fashion fades, style is eternal” Yves Saint Laurent remarked. No truer words have been spoken. So while some trends breeze in and out, visionary fashion heads have created concepts so elegant that have stood the test of time and never fallen out of style. For me, these forces of fashion are Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Manolo Blahnik and Tom Ford.
“I freed the body” Chanel once declared. Fashion has never been the same since. She revolutionised women’s fashion in the early 20th century when she introduced looser, more comfortable silhouettes that freed women from the corsets and frills.
Chanel came of age as a designer during the Great War. The use of economical fabrics seem to reify not just what women wanted but what they needed. She brought a menswear aesthetic to women’s clothing that gave birth to the “The Chanel Suit”
The Chanel Suit, – whether in it’s original form or a more recent Lagerfield incarnations – is the fashion house’s iconic signature.
In 1926 Coco Chanel published a picture of a short, simple black dress in American Vogue. It was calf-length, straight and decorated only by a few diagonal lines. Vogue called it “Chanel’s Ford”. Like the “Model T” the little black dress was simple and accessible for women of all social classes. Vogue also said that the LBD would become “a sort of uniform for all women of taste”
More than any piece of clothing, the little black dress is, women have been told, the essential. And more that any other designer, Coco Chanel was the one who made it ubiquitous.
Chanel no. 5 was the first perfume launched my Coco Chanel. Traditionally, fragrance worn by women had adhered to two basic categories, respected women and working women. Chanel felt the time was right for the debut of a scent that would epitomise the modern flapper that would speak to the liberated spirit of the 1920s
Marilyn Monroe getting ready and using her favourite Chanel No. 5 perfume. She’s presumably following Coco Chanel’s advice to put perfume ‘where you would like to be kissed’.
One of Italy’s most successful fashion moguls got his start in the trenches of the industry, working as a window dresser for a department store. Giorgio Armani launched his eponymous company in 1975.
In the 1980s, Armani introduced his best-known design element, the soft shoulder, on his famed suits, adding an air of comfort and modernism to the overly rigid jacket. Worn loose, an unconstructed Armani jacket gave the wearer a devil-may-care, slightly rumpled appearance.
Armani rocketed to mass acclaim when Richard Gere modeled his suits on the silver screen as the suave and sophisticated American Gigolo. Overnight, an Armani jacket became the ultimate status symbol for moneyed young men seeking an easy way to telegraph their success.
Armani was the original red-carpet dresser, styling celebrities for their big night even before the word “stylist” came into popular usage. He courted Tinseltown in earnest, offering its luminaries a subtle way to turn up the wattage on Oscar night without dimming any of their own star power. Michelle Pfeiffer, Jodie Foster, and Julia Roberts were among the first stars to place themselves in the minimalist maestro’s capable hands.
Jessica Chastain channels old Hollywood glamour on the red carpet in a floor-length, nude Armani Prive gown. Naomi Watts, who was also wearing a dress from Giorgio Armani. Her custom sequined gown in princess cut dazzled before the cameras in its dramatic gunmetal gray shade.
“Fetch me my Burberry,” King Edward VII would instruct his valet before heading out to brave the English weather. The British brand is steeped in history as an outerwear company founded by Thoman Burberry in 1856 an innovative chap responsible for patenting Gabardine – a water proof fabric.
Burberry’s first, and still greatest, claim to fame is, of course, the trench coat. Devised for British troops fighting in World War I, it was fitted with shoulder straps for epaulets and D-rings for grenades. Later, the double-breasted weather-beater was adapted for civilian wear, gussied up with gun flaps and lined with the signature Burberry check.
The Burberry trench stands as a true symbol of Englishness, as British as marmalade on toast. Over the decades, the tan, belted overcoat has remained a familiar sight from palace to pub.
Competing with the likes of Gucci and Louis Vuitton in satiating the peoples appetite for logos and status symbols, Burberry’s ubiquitous check had hit saturation point. Being plastered on canine coats to umbrellas and shoes, Christopher Bailey was brought in to rein in the runway pattern. The house’s designer line, Prorsum, was launched in 1998 and in just a decade, Bailey turned what was essentially still an outerwear and accessories company into a Fashion Week favourite.
Christopher Bailey’s central idea for Burberry Prorsum Resort ’15 was “the inner sassiness of the girl next door.” It’s a style reference that hovers around the late eighties or early nineties.
In Sex and the city, the shoe-addicted lead, Carrie Bradshaw, is mugged in a downtown alley. The thug pointing a gun at her feet, demands, “And your Manolo Blahniks.” Carrie’s face registers shock. “What?” She glances down at her beloved strappy sandals. “No!,” she gasps. Even with a gun levelled at her, Carrie begs for shoe mercy: “Please, sir, they’re my favourite pair!”
No shoes could tempt a thief and inspire such devotion from the wearer. “Manolos” as they are fondly known, are the quintessence of women’s footwear. Blahnik is notable for single-handedly designing the thousands of shoes that bear his name.
Blahnik is credited with reviving the stiletto in the 1970s, an age when platforms rose above the rest. He is known for creating new, artistic styles while staying true the classic heel. Blahnik’s handcrafted heels are instantly recognisable as a cut above the rest.
“Fashion’s boldest, most audacious success story ever” is how Women’s Wear Daily described the meteoric rise of Tom Ford. It may be difficult to remember a day when Gucci wasn’t synonymous with luxury, but prior to Ford’s arrival as a fresh-faced unknown in 1990, the famed Italian fashion house teetered on the edge of bankruptcy.
The Texas-born architect from Santa Fe, talked his way into his first design job and quickly moved up the ranks to become Gucci’s creative director in 1994, using provocative and sexually explicit ad campaigns to reinvigorate the ageing brand, turning it into the multibillion-dollar powerhouse it is today.
Tom Ford’s final collection for Gucci 2004.
After leaving Gucci, Ford launched a line of menswear, beauty, eyewear, and accessories in 2006. Dominico De Sole became chairman of the Tom Ford label. He announced his return to design by partnering with Italian fashion group Ermenegildo Zegna, which will produce a line of luxury menswear, accessories, and footwear under the Tom Ford label.
For his tightly edited, elegantly reductive fall 2014 collection, Tom Fords collection was influenced by two places dear to his heart—the American West (where he has a home in Santa Fe), and London, his beloved adopted home.
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