How Coco Chanel Turned Men’s Underwear Fabric Into High Fashion | Fashion

The legacy of Coco Chanel

For all the Gen Z and millennials obsessing over luxury giant Chanel today, here’s a reality check: long before the double Cs stood for red carpets and runway glam, they were a representation of the bold vision of a woman who didn’t care for rules. Instead, she broke norms, started major trends and still continues to be a pioneer of fashion as we know it.

Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel wasn’t born into luxury. But she sure as heck designed her way into it. And yes, that was all thanks to her expert eye in decoding what women actually wanted to wear. Her story isn’t just about creating chic outfits; it’s about changing the game.

At a time when women were still squeezing themselves into corsets, wearing layers of frilly fabric, and putting up with clothes that looked elegant but felt like a punishment, Chanel came in like a wrecking ball, questioning, “Why can’t fashion feel as good as it looks?” And just like that, the winds of change began to blow.

While there always was a hint of feminism in her creations, her biggest power move came when she adopted jersey as her primary source of fabric. When she expanded her clothing line, instead of reaching for traditional luxury fabrics, she picked jersey. Yes, the same material used for men’s underwear at the time.

It was comfy, easy to wear, and during wartime, it was available. Chanel didn’t care that it wasn’t “fancy.” She cared that it moved with your body. At a time when beauty standards were through the roof, this here was a whole revolution in it’s own right.

Of course, jersey wasn’t the only fabric she was interested in. She opened a store in a fancy little resort town and offered ready-to-wear pieces made of tweed and wool—fabrics you’d usually see on men. But of course, as with everything, they looked even better on women.

Coco Chanel didn’t just design clothes, she changed how women moved, felt, and lived in them.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}