How Chanel stood the test of time:a focus on consumption and identity.

Emily Pearce.

Passion for fashion.According to the Oxford English dictionary:“Fashion” is ‘the style and custom prevalent at a given time. It will change more rapidly than the culture as a whole’

The crucial statement here is that ‘it changes more rapidly than culture as a whole’ inferring an undying, insatiable need for the consumption of new, innovative items of clothing.

Yet Chanel has remained as LEADER of fashion houses across the world (according to the BBC it attains over 10% of the market share) with their signature designs such as the classic quilted bags being deemed timeless, classic fashion staples.

This presentation will explore why….

Going for gold.Chanel is stereotypically synonymous with that of the elite, and according to The Financial Times is one of the top 10 most expensive clothing brandsResulting in the earning approval from the rich and famous (Keira Knightly and Victoria Beckham are avid supporters of the brand); the famous tweed suits of Coco Chanel are a fashion industry must-have.

Something for everyone.

As one among the top elegant fashion houses, Chanel has revolutionised how women wear products related to clothing; the younger and trendier crowds are lured in by this designer clothing brand’s use of classic pieces and those more ambitious.

It has an enviable mass appeal , as well as having remained the status symbol of the elite crowd; which evidently affects its consumption as a cultural product.

‘“Fashion” said Gabrielle 'Coco’Chanel,

"is about moving forward, not looking back."

As early as 1915, Harper's Bazaar raved over Chanel’s designs: “The woman who hasn’t at least one Chanel is hopelessly out of fashion…This season the name Chanel is on the lips of every buyer.” - Echoic of Chanel’s storming success throughout the brand’s lifetime, their brand’s progression seems to have kept fashionistas enthralled since its conception.Evidence from all around us merely illustrates that people desire progression; the formation of new meta-narratives. Fashion provides a getaway for this, allowing for the breaking down of barriers in regards to our self-representation: (think Lady Gaga’s meat dress!)

Chanel the innovator.

She stole the masculine concepts of shirts, pyjamas, hats and trousers, and reinvented them for her sex.Breaking down the barriers and meta-narratives in regards to fashion in a post-modernistic way in an attempt to refute the male gaze, and make fashion appealing to women.

On the lust list.A measure of how popular Chanel items can be would be the earrings, which quickly sell out in stores.

Some women even travel to the Chanel boutiques in different countries in search of these fashion accessories when the store in their own country do not receive any stock. They are willing to pay the additional cost of travel and currency exchanges that inflate the cost of the earrings, simply because owning and wearing a pair of Chanel earrings in their eyes automatically signals to the whole world that you have great fashion sense and high taste.

Sweet smells of success.

Not only have Chanel fashion products become a global icon, even the perfumes produced by the fashion line have established their own place in popularity stakes. Chanel No. 5 has been a top selling perfume since it was first produced and set free on the unsuspecting public. It has remained the top choice for women worldwide despite constant new competition from other brands.

Figures suggest that a bottle is sold every thirty seconds.

Girl power!Chanel is also known for liberating many women, freeing them of constraints held over them by men in terms of their appearance (the male gaze).Trousers, blazers and ‘the power suit’ all gave women strength and freedom in terms of the connotations of their dress- in essence empowering them through consumption.Coco Chanel revolutionised haute couture fashion by replacing the traditional corseted silhouette with the comfort of simple suits and long, slender dresses. frequently incorporating ideas from male fashion into her designs.

Chanel: the idyllic lifestyle.

According to Contemporary Fashion "She dressed the modern woman in clothes for a lifestyle." which indicates other things about consumption of Chanel as a brand identity- they are selling a lifestyle. Aiming to appeal to their target market by using their products and advertising to depict the perfect life.

Their influence in the fashion industry has always been great; Coco is credited for making jersey a popular fashion fabric, using it to make dresses cut to flatter the figure rather than to emphasise and distort the natural body shape. Again, aiming to liberate women.

But how did Chanel attain the power to hold such a strong influence

over the fashion industry and its consumers?

Strategic pricing:

Extortionate pricing in order to create a divide between upper class elite (bourgeoisie) and lower class (proletariat), which in turn encodes more desirable messages( i.e. I'm rich) suggesting that one is better than the other; it creates exclusivity.

exclusivity =desire

Use of celebrities in adverts:

In today's society much of our interest is based around celebrity culture. Everyone idolises one, or wants to be one. So celebrity endorsement should ensue desire for the product. One may say that celebrities represent the ideal self, so by purchasing a product that they endorse it is a step closer to being like them.

The model's expression:

Paul Messaris examined facial expression in high fashion models.High-fashion models are generally unsmiling and sometimes openly contemptuous. The supercilious expressions on the models’ faces serve to increase the desirability of what they’re selling by evoking status anxiety in the viewer. This status anxiety occurs through a pseudo looking glass (Cooley) by which the viewer feels they are receiving negative feedback on themselves, thus evoking anxiety.

Inducement of low self esteem in advertising

tactics.The status anxiety decreases the viewer’s self esteem influencing the consumer to buy designer products to re-affirm themselves; suggesting that it is those who dictate the high fashion brands (bourgeoisie) also (in an indirect manner) dictate our own representation and definition through cultural items.

The target market.Note the difference between the clothing advert

(reserved for the elite)and the perfume advert (more accessible).

In the clothing advert the models were aptly covered and in no way sexual, so in terms of the gaze it presents those who wear chanel as fetishistic ‘maddonnas’ due their distancing from others, creating an attraction due to their unattainability.However, the perfume advert shows the girl nude, inferring a voyeuristic stance on the gaze. Which could potentially be decoded as a more accurate representation of the lower class's desires- immediate gratification rather than long term gain.

The media has extreme hegemony in the creation of a brand...

A mistake of the press in times of commercial launch of the Classic Chanel handbag is still stuck to the most popular handbag of Chanel today. Misleadingly the bag was published as the 2.55 handbag although its real name was Timeless CC. Emphasising the huge influence of the press, sticking on items for their whole product life cycle.

Perpetuation of the dominant

ideology.Our media saturated society as pointed out by Strinati severely influences our views; we feel pressure to fit in as we are told who we should be and what we should value dictated through the dominant ideology-suggesting that we are subject to manipulation by those in power who control the media, consequently those who dictate the fashion through such a medium.

One hundred and two years since its conception Chanel is still going strong today, bringing out new lines every season the brand

is constantly reinventing fashion. It is a household name both for owners of their items, and those

who desire them.

A fashion brand that has truly

stood the test of time.