Public fame and private enigma

Gabrielle Chanel, who died in her suite in the Ritz in Paris at the age of 87, was one of the handful of designers who can be said to have radically changed the way in which women dress. Mile Chanel is the winner in terms of publicity, longevity and mass market appeal.

Chanel's contribution to fashion, put in the flattest terms, was «to make it smart to look poor». She created a style which was the very opposite of the Edwardian idea of dress, of opulence. In place of elaborate, flappy, tricksy clothes she introduced brisk pleated skirts, trousers, made the fabric jersey acceptable and showed bright co­lours. She had her own fabulous jewels copied into cheap, marvel­lous fakes and all at once it was smarter to wear the false than the real. She designed a shoe, pale flesh coloured calf with a black toe cap. Her jackets were individual enough to be named after her - edge to edge, high round neck, no fastenings, made from tweed quilted onto pure silk and edged around the inside with a gold chain (for proper hang and weight) and trimmed with thick braid and gold but­tons with a lion's head on them.

As with most ancient monuments, Chanel's life is well docu­mented: her romances with the English aristocracy, her friends in the artistic circles of the world. Her character has been less well covered. She was tough, with a very masculine mind inside that luxuriously female body, she lacked magnanimity, she was not generous nor was she particularly loyal to her friends.

Chanel's original success was in Paris in the twenties and her comeback in 1954 was widely rumoured to be solely in order to boost the sales of her world's top selling scent,

Chanel Number 5. To those who only knew her late in life and professionally, she was a ti­ny figure sitting on the curving stairs in the Rue Cambon like a bad tempered tortoise. Shelled in vivid tweeds, clinking her beads and brooches with the noise tortoises make, and darting a basilisk stare at anyone unfortunate enough to have to quit before the end of the h collection.

It is impossible to chart pictorially the evolution of Chanel as a designer because she did not evolve. Rather fashion evolved round her. She created a look which was overwhelmingly successful when it was launched and which has left ineradicable traces in fashion. That look was revived - after a sticky start - at her comeback in the fifties, and some knowledgeable pundits bad tipped it for yet another triumph this year when Paris shows its haute couture offerings. She created fashion which was aside from the main stream and yet al­ways perfectly valid. What Mile Chanel thought about her prospects is an enigma. The things she would never talk about, it seems, were her clothes and her past.

(Prudence Glynn, The Times)

A. Explain the meaning of these words and phrases from the text.

1 mass market appeal 6 was widely rumoured

2 opulence 7 a basilisk stare

3 fakes 8 pundits

4 romances 9 haute couture

5 magnanimity 10 enigma

B. Now answer the following questions:

1. What is Gabriel Chanel's contribution to world fashion history?

2. Why do you think life stages of outstanding people are often rumoured?

3. What traces has Chanel's original look left in fashion?

4. What's your opinion of haute couture offerings? Do you like to watch shows of this kind on TV?

5. From things invented by Coco Chanel what would you choose as appealing to you? Why?

6. What other famous designers do you know? What have they done to change the way women dress?

7. Do you share the view that fashion is women's tyrant?

8. What style of clothing do you prefer?