Sometimes the smallest part of a CHANEL jacket has the biggest personality.
A neat row of CCs may be followed by lions, camellias, pearls, coloured glass or crystal—little finishing notes that make the whole garment sing.
Begin with a proper close look
The TC JAPAN Pinterest board gathers button photographs where the detail remains large and clear: silver on black, gold on purple and jewel-like light over pale tweed.
Close-up photographs selected so the buttons remain easy to see.
A button should speak to the cloth around it
On black tweed, gold adds a decisive accent. On a lighter dress, translucent ornament catches the light gently. The most successful designs feel inseparable from the weave and trimming.
Desrues: a Parisian chapter in CHANEL button history
Founded in 1929, Desrues produced its first button collection for Gabrielle Chanel’s suits during the 1960s. It joined CHANEL in 1985 and became the first workshop in the house’s developing Métiers d’art family.
Hand-finished prototypes sit alongside digital design, machining, casting, plating, glasswork and assembly. The result is not nostalgia for its own sake, but craft kept alive through careful use of modern methods.
1964: the interlocking CC reaches the button
A Metropolitan Museum of Art catalogue entry notes 1964 as the first appearance of the interlocking CC on a CHANEL suit button—an emblem that feels timeless, but had its own beginning.
Jewelled colour, with a little attribution caution
Coloured glass can lend tweed the glow of jewellery. Yet resemblance is not documentation, so we do not label every jewel-like button “Gripoix” simply from its appearance.
What we watch for on the 2008A Little Black Jacket
In 2008 Autumn/Winter jackets inspected by TC JAPAN, some CC buttons have displayed minute cracks that are difficult to spot unaided. Wear may widen them, occasionally ending in a broken button.
Magnified button inspection
By altering the light and using a loupe, we check the surface, rim and CC motif of every button. Fine lines can remain invisible in an ordinary photograph.
The reason our condition check includes every button
A garment may be authentic and still fall short on condition. We study buttons, cloth, trimming, shoulder structure and lining. Over sixteen years devoted to CHANEL clothing has taught us where age can quietly make itself known.
The work is quiet and painstaking, but confidence in a vintage garment often begins with exactly this kind of small detail.
Reference material
Links are tailored for UK customers.
