Behind a CHANEL Haute Couture garment lies an unseen rhythm of fitting, resewing, embroidery and braid. This international edition connects that work with the house’s history, Paris ateliers, films and two pieces from our shop.
Gabrielle Chanel opened her first couture house in Biarritz in 1915 and designed her first Haute Couture collection. In 1918, she established her couture house at 31 Rue Cambon, bringing the boutique, salons and ateliers together in one building.
The 1954 return of Gabrielle Chanel brought her philosophy back into sharp focus. Light tweed, flexible sleeves and unrestrictive suits proposed freedom as a condition of elegance rather than its opposite.
CHANEL Haute Couture is still created around 31 Rue Cambon in Paris. Official material describes three tailleur ateliers for structured jackets and suits, two flou ateliers for dresses and fluid fabrics, and a galon atelier dedicated to braid.
A complex garment may require hundreds of hand-worked hours. Specialist maisons such as Lesage and Lemarié contribute embroidery, feathers, flowers and tweed, carrying a drawing into three dimensions.
The Spring-Summer 2015 film slows the eye before the final runway image, revealing sewing and embellishment at close range. A single visual field is built from many precise, individual gestures.
CHANEL Official | Savoir-faire of the Spring-Summer 2015 Haute Couture Collection
For Spring-Summer 2016, a set evoking a wooden pavilion and garden framed ideas drawn from natural materials. Wood became beads, sequins and sculptural frills; paper and organic fibres also entered the collection, while wild cotton appeared in the bridal finale.
Natural materials entered CHANEL’s vocabulary of tweed jackets, dresses and suits only after transformation by the ateliers. The result reframed wood, paper, organic fibres and wild cotton through the values of Haute Couture.
CHANEL Official | Savoir-faire of the Spring-Summer 2016 Haute Couture Collection
Fashion journalist and filmmaker Loïc Prigent enters the CHANEL Haute Couture archives, moving close to the details and explaining their fascination with irresistible pace.
Prigent turns expert observation into the pleasure of discovery. Channels that reveal fashion’s private spaces with this much wit, curiosity and closeness are exceptionally rare.
English and French subtitles are available in the YouTube settings.
Loïc Prigent | Xclusive CHANEL: The SECRET Archives of Haute Couture!
Loïc Prigent documents fittings, backstage exchanges and the voices inside fashion workrooms. His combination of access, knowledge and humour makes the channel essential viewing.
Subscribe to Loïc PrigentNo standard run can reproduce Haute Couture detail identically. These two pieces from our collection—a beige tweed jacket and navy dress—show how individual that finish can be.
Four pockets, gold CC buttons and a chain at the hem define this piece. The serial number 53606 is visible behind the neck label.
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Gold buttons engraved COCO CHANEL and detachable white cuffs punctuate the quiet navy, while the structure keeps the presence of hand tailoring in view.
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