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Get the Look: Coco Chanel Style
Get Inspired to Add a Little "Luxury for Yourself" at Home
Coco Chanel invented a fashion vocabulary — white camellias, the black dress, the double-C logo, the elongated octagon shape of the Chanel No. 5 perfume stopper — and she surrounded herself with these inspirations in her posh Paris apartment.
Located at 31 Rue Cambon, the apartment sits atop the Chanel boutique and couture salon, where models showed collections to prospective buyers. Today, the apartment is used for press interviews and fashion shoots — and, of course, for haute couture clients.
To enter Chanel's universe, you climb a curved staircase, up steps carpeted in beige, with white trim. When new collections were presented, Chanel watched them being modeled from these stairs. During the show, she would sit perched on the fifth step down from her apartment, in front of a wall of mirrors. Looking down, she could see the models and the audience reaction to the clothes — without anyone seeing her.
Chanel's apartment is filled with visible perfections — crystal chandeliers, gleaming mirrors, pairs of gilded Chinese horses, an ancient Russian icon from her friend Igor Stravinsky, a golden hand her friend Alberto Giacometti sculpted for her, and a shaft of wheat painted by her friend Salvador Dali.
We can only hope to attain a portion of Chanel's style and grace. Check out this ideabook to understand how you can bring her look to your interior.
Located at 31 Rue Cambon, the apartment sits atop the Chanel boutique and couture salon, where models showed collections to prospective buyers. Today, the apartment is used for press interviews and fashion shoots — and, of course, for haute couture clients.
To enter Chanel's universe, you climb a curved staircase, up steps carpeted in beige, with white trim. When new collections were presented, Chanel watched them being modeled from these stairs. During the show, she would sit perched on the fifth step down from her apartment, in front of a wall of mirrors. Looking down, she could see the models and the audience reaction to the clothes — without anyone seeing her.
Chanel's apartment is filled with visible perfections — crystal chandeliers, gleaming mirrors, pairs of gilded Chinese horses, an ancient Russian icon from her friend Igor Stravinsky, a golden hand her friend Alberto Giacometti sculpted for her, and a shaft of wheat painted by her friend Salvador Dali.
We can only hope to attain a portion of Chanel's style and grace. Check out this ideabook to understand how you can bring her look to your interior.
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by Elliott Kaufman
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| While Coco's space was lined with books and decorated with a well-curated collection of objects, the living room is where Coco would conduct interviews. Only a select few were allowed to sit on the tan suede couch — the color and material being favorites with her. |
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Similar to this photo, upstairs in Chanel's apartment is what they called the nest of an exotic bird. It's filled with antique lacquered Chinese screens — white camellias are part of the pattern. Chanel flattened the colored screens like wallpaper, or folded them at the entryway to her drawing room.
| A mirrored spiral staircase provided Coco a way to watch editor's reactions at fashion shows on the floor below and leads upstairs to the top-floor atelier where Karl Lagerfeld works and down to haute couture fitting rooms and to the ground-floor boutique. |
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| Born a Leo on Aug. 19, 1883, Chanel surrounded herself with models of lions in wood, silver, bronze or alabaster for her apartment at 31 Rue Cambon. The lion became a timeless biographical seal on numerous of her creations. |
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| From the quilted pillows to the "5"s and interlocking "C"s hidden in Coco's apartment chandelier, it's clear that Mme. Chanel had an eye for detail. |
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The idea of "luxury for yourself" was an important Chanel principle. Mirrored surfaces and a red carpet simply add to the fashionista element.
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At the end of the 1920’s, Chanel had a love affair with the Duke of Westminster, the richest man in England. Sitting on the table of her apartment are three vermeil boxes given to Gabrielle Chanel by the Duke.
The metal which adorns them is less precious than the one concealed inside: a gold interior. It was thanks to the Duke of Westminster that Coco Chanel discovered this characteristic of luxury which she made her own: something which remains hidden, which exists only for oneself. This notion of luxury found an immediate echo in the fashion world because, according to Coco Chanel, elegance comes from being as beautiful inside as outside.
The metal which adorns them is less precious than the one concealed inside: a gold interior. It was thanks to the Duke of Westminster that Coco Chanel discovered this characteristic of luxury which she made her own: something which remains hidden, which exists only for oneself. This notion of luxury found an immediate echo in the fashion world because, according to Coco Chanel, elegance comes from being as beautiful inside as outside.
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Whenever Coco went to her apartment on Rue Cambon, there were orders to spray Chanel No. 5 around the stairway so her signature scent would greet her.
Tip: Let your design feed all of the senses. Have your space not only be visually appealing but welcoming through your favorite scent, too.
Tip: Let your design feed all of the senses. Have your space not only be visually appealing but welcoming through your favorite scent, too.
| This palette suits the Coco style. She preferred a low-slung chair — so the chair's form would line up with hemlines.
Could you go Coco? |
Ideabook updated on Jan. 13, 2011.
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either call me on..+919219766911
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