Gabrielle Chanel Haute Couture Skirt Suit In Bouclé Mohair Plaid Circa 1955-1960

Circa 1955-1960FranceA rare and very early skirt suit by Gabrielle Chanel Haute Couture dating from the late 1950s. A stunning ensemble that combines all the codes of "Mademoiselle" including this stunning looped mohair treated in a large check plaid, with an impressionist color fade. The jacket has no buttons and closes in front with two sheathed hooks (small losses to the sheathing). Only two real very low pockets complete the jacket with exemplary sobriety. The lining of the jacket and skirt is in ecru wild silk with large parallel topstitching, and is weighted by the traditional brass chain. The skirt is slit on the side and has a wide flap allowing the opening. Unfortunately, two buttons are missing from the skirt and four buttons are missing from the naturally slit cuffs. The lining of the sleeves is in cream silk pongee and the Chanel label, which is only on the jacket, is sewn with original Couture stitches and does not include a numbered bolduc. No damage to report apart from a natural patina of time and the wild silk flares on 1 cm inside one cuff. Good general condition of color and conservation.Dimensions: Equivalent Size 39-42 FranceJacket: Height 57 cm Shoulders 40 cm Sleeves 54 cm Chest 94-98 cm Waist 97 cm Hips 109 cmSkirt: Height 60 cm Waist 73 cm Hips 98 cm Skirt base 110 cmIn 1953, the headquarters of the house of Chanel at 31, rue Cambon, which closed just before the Second World War, was under construction to reopen its doors. Offices, workshops, boutiques, as well as the apartment of "Mademoiselle" were renovated. The reasons for the return of the seamstress were multiple. But above all, Gabrielle Chanel, always advocating a "practical" fashion for a modern and elegant woman, opposed the couturiers who were triumphing at that time such as Dior or Balenciaga and the corseted fashion going against the liberated women who had played a role during the War. On February 5, 1954, she presented a collection of 130 creations including her braided tweed suit. The Chanel suit was intended, according to the couturier, to be a timeless garment, suitable for both day and evening simply by changing accessories; all outside the fashion of the time. Its "always impeccable" fit and its comfort were directly inspired by the men's wardrobe: Karl Lagerfeld specifies that: "The Chanel jacket is thus a man's jacket that has become a typically feminine garment, that has crossed this border and that has definitively become the symbol of a certain nonchalant feminine elegance, timeless and timeless, that is to say of all time. » This suit symbolizes Coco Chanel's return to business after several years spent in Switzerland. But the couturier's past during the War, as well as the hegemony of the silhouettes inherited from Dior's New Look, meant that the couturier's return was not an immediate success. The European press, especially French and English, — with the exception of Elle magazine and its editor-in-chief Hélène Lazareff — gave her collection a very bad reception: a "fiasco", a "flop", austere designs too "out of step" with the times. For its part, the all-powerful American press, like Life magazines, which would refer to it as the "Chanel Look", or Vogue especially, gave her their support and orders arrived in quantity from the United States. This success, especially in the United States initially, meant that from the following year, the suit became a classic and was widely copied; The proliferation of these copies will end up making this suit a "symbol of a somewhat traditional bourgeoisie", but also a symbol of "timeless" elegance sometimes associated with the image of the Parisian woman. In the 1960s, Anouk Aimée and Romy Schneider appeared in this garment; much later, it would be Lady Diana. On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas; Jacqueline Kennedy at his side wore a pink Chanel suit.