Coco Chanel

She was smart, stylish and on the cutting edge. The clothes she fashioned changed the way in which women looked and perceived themselves. Coco Chanel wasn’t just ahead of her time…She was ahead of herself [1]. 

By collaborating with male and female clothes, Chanel created a trend that challenged traditional conventions and offered the wearer a new sense of style – one of hidden luxury. Chanel wouldn’t have seen herself as a feminist, but her work is certainly part of the liberation of women that evolved out of necessity and defiance. 

Born into poverty and raised in an orphanage run by nuns, she couldn’t afford the fashionable clothes of the time [2]. Thus, she rejected them and made her own, using everyday male attire. This is where her style begun. Chanel was determined to break the old methods and create a different way to express herself. According to Prada; a company concerned with woman’s fashion: “She was really a genius. It’s hard to pin down exactly why, but it has something to do with her wanting to be different and wanting to be independent” [3]. At this stage, her style was often seen as different, yet distinctive, as she rebelled against traditional design.

Her life was very unique. Throughout the 1920s, Chanel’s progress continued, and her reputation grew to an iconic status. By the early 1930s she had been captured by the glamour of Hollywood and had almost married one of the richest men in Europe – the Duke of Westminster. But she didn’t, and her explanation was: “There have been several Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Chanel” [4].

In fact, there were several Chanel’s, just as her work had several phases and styles. These included short skirts, excessive jewellery, glittering lingerie and ‘little black dresses’ that made her famous – just to name a few. But perhaps the single element that Chanel will always be remembered for isn’t a piece of clothing, but a form of liquid gold – Chanel No. 5. In its art deco bottle, it was the first perfume to label a designer’s name [5].

But Chanel’s opportunism caught up with her after World War 2. It has been said that she had a love affair with a German officer, worked with the Nazis and may have even spied for them. These rumours remained for some time and troubled Chanel. When she returned to the fashion industry in the 1950’s, her name still had ‘disgraced’ attached to it. “By the ’50s she had the benefit of distance, and so could truly distil the Chanel look. Time and culture had caught up with her” [6]. But most people managed to forgive and forget. At least enough to snap up her clothing line. The business, if not Chanel herself, retained its lasting appeal.

Even after her death, Chanel’s life story continues to captivate our society. Chanel had achieved first-name recognition and was simply Coco.

References

[1] http://cocoat5.blogspot.com

[2] https://www.biography.com/people/coco-chanel-9244165

[3] http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988494-2,00.html

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/education/gabrielle-coco-chanel-1883-1971

War on Waste

We have reached that point. We are frequently throwing away excessive amounts of food, clothing, appliances and plastic packaging that our waste is growing at a faster rate than that of our population. How can this be sustainable? 

These problems of toxicity, pollution and waste in our society were a key theme of the Welcome to Wasteland Exhibition (14-24 March), which was held in relation to the Melbourne Design Week program.

Welcome to Wasteland showcases projects by various creatives – including architects, industrial designers, graphic designers and researchers – to explore the use of waste materials and offer visitors an insight into how leading practitioners are challenging Australian waste issues [1].

This theme draws upon the perspectives made by anthropologist Mary Douglas on dirt and culture. For Douglas, every society has some concept of dirt which is relative to its circumstances and needs. She highlights, “There is no such thing as absolute dirt.” What she is accentuating is that almost anything can be considered dirt if it is in the wrong place [2].

However, there will always be things that do not quite fit in, and they will be seen as either ‘dirt’, ‘waste’, ‘by-products’ or ‘pollution’. Thus, some kind of forward thinking is required in order to create value and meaning from materials that might otherwise remain ordinary and neglected.

Turning Trash into Treasure

The Welcome to Wasteland Exhibition challenged designers to ‘Make a statement. Make a difference’. It was time to step out of conventional practices and many designers embraced the concept in their works as they pushed the boundaries. But none on display caught my eye as much as the CMYK Chair by Morgan Doty.

Morgan was inspired by picking a material and process which would push the limitations of re-using waste materials. Her design explores the recycling of shredded paper pulp which was moulded over a CNC cut form. The chair uses double curvature and ribbing to create a very strong and comfortable shell structure. But when I took a closer look at the materials she used, it virtually told its own story of the magazines it is made from that were collected across the University of Melbourne Campus. 

According to Morgan, “It was important to get the mixture right to showcase the texture and quality of the material” [3]. What is interesting is that her design was never intended to be what it is now – a chair. The form was determined by testing the process to understand the durability and the strength of the material. Once the form was a double curvature and shell structure, turning it into a chair made sense using recycled timber [4]. This goes to show that sometimes seeing the beauty in an inconspicuous piece of rubbish can open our minds to many different possibilities.

Despite being in her final year of tertiary education, the experience has shifted Morgan’s perception on design. “I loved how this was a balance between making and architecture and it is something I’d love to do more of in the future.” Morgan then went on: “Making makes you think a lot more about the design because you have to ensure it can viably become physical” [5].

This outlook is innovative. Instead of focusing on the threat of waste, Morgan has been able to interpret and display how waste can be used to solve other problems. She has effectively considered the situation as a glass half full, rather than a glass half empty. 

Imagination is core to these ideas. It is essential to imagine things differently if we are to start to think our way out of these problems. Together, the design community may just create a new way forward in this rapidly changing world. 

References

[1]https://greenmagazine.com.au/welcome-to-wasteland-an-intimate-chat/

[2]https://www.domusweb.it/en/design/2019/04/04/absolute-toxicity-review-of-me lbourne-dsign-week.html

[3]https://msd.unimelb.edu.au/news/morgans-cmyk-chair-takes-out-a-suite-of-melbourne-fringe-furniture-awards

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.