Every CHANEL Haute Couture piece carries hours that the finished silhouette cannot show: fittings, revisions, hand sewing, embroidery and braid. This United States edition follows the craft through CHANEL history, atelier films, and two remarkable pieces from our collection.
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.
When Gabrielle Chanel returned to couture in 1954, her lightly woven tweed, mobile sleeves and easy jackets challenged restrictive ideas of elegance. Freedom of movement became a defining CHANEL principle.
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 piece can take hundreds of hours, all completed by hand. Embroidery, feathers, flowers and tweed may also draw on specialist houses including Lesage and Lemarié, turning the designer’s sketch into a garment that moves on the body.
In the Spring-Summer 2015 making-of film, the camera moves past the runway finish to reveal precise sewing and ornament. What reads as one surface from a distance is actually a field of patient handwork.
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.
CHANEL transformed wood, paper, organic fibres and wild cotton rather than leaving them raw, setting them within the architecture of tweed jackets, suits and dresses. Couture craft changed how each material was perceived.
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 combines expertise with the delight of seeing something unexpected. It is rare to find a channel that makes the private language of fashion this accessible, close and genuinely fun.
English and French subtitles are available in the YouTube settings.
Loïc Prigent | Xclusive CHANEL: The SECRET Archives of Haute Couture!
From fittings and backstage exchanges to conversations in the workrooms, Loïc Prigent captures the instant an idea becomes clothing. Fashion enthusiasts will find few channels this rewarding.
Subscribe to Loïc PrigentBecause Haute Couture is made piece by piece, no two examples resolve every detail in exactly the same way. Our beige tweed jacket and navy dress offer two distinct expressions of that craft.
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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