Well, she didn’t burn bras if that’s what you were thinking.

I got this book from Selfridge’s when we were in London.

While I like Chanel, by no means am I the biggest fan and I don’t know anything about Coco Chanel besides that she hooked up with a Nazi during World War 2. :X

So I thought ok let’s see what the fuss is about until there are musicals and movies made out of this woman wtf.

Read it and it was very interesting!  Coco Chanel had a pretty revolutionary career and led a very progressive life!  Some of the things attributed to her were unheard of during that time and it got me to thinking, was Coco Chanel a feminist?

Here are some reasons why I think Chanel was a feminist ahead of her time:

She made clothes for women’s bodies instead of men’s eyes

When she first started around 1920 (and I’m being very vague), women were still in corsets with big skirts.  Instead of hourglass silhouettes of the time, Chanel designed unrestrictive clothes which came in straight and sleek lines.

Source

Women could finally breathe better and move easier in Chanel!

2. Chanel adapted men’s styles for women

Some women wore pants doing war work in WW1 but Chanel made trousers really fashionable.

From the Telegraph.  Chanel in the 1920s. I would wear this outfit today lo!!!

She also appropriated fabrics like tweed and jersey which were traditionally used for menswear and created women’s clothes with them.  She adapted men’s designs for women – she merged the silhouette of a man’s sports coat with a cardigan, and introduced a men’s button-front jumper (see below)

Besides this, Chanel designed pockets on women’s clothing  previously were not a usual part of a woman’s wardrobe.   She actually started off as a hat maker and instead of the hats with large brims popular at the time, she made small, smart looking hats designed for comfort that wouldn’t hinder the wearer. And she also feminized the traditional men’s suit.

Yep remember those famous Chanel tweed jackets?  Jackie Kennedy was wearing a Chanel suit when JFK was assassinated…

All her clothes were essentially designed for a woman’s freedom – they weren’t restrictive, they were comfortable and they were practical.  All while still being super stylish!

3. Coco Chanel was the original #GirlBoss

She owned and ran her own business in a largely male dominated industry.  Heck, all industries at the time were probably male dominated.   She was financially independent and never had a husband.  All this made even more remarkable considering her humble beginnings.

She was even quoted as saying, “The moment I had to choose between the man I loved and my dresses, I chose my dresses.”

4. Chanel popularized costume jewelry

According to the book, Chanel wasn’t the first to venture into costume jewelry – Paul Poirot did it first.  But Chanel was the first to regularly design and commission unique costume pieces for her collections.  She had awesome timing because after the first world war, the rich avoided wearing precious jewelry for fear of looking unpatriotic and frivolous.  So they resorted to costume jewelry.  By wearing fakes, women proclaimed their independence (as opposed to being “kept” by a man) and did it fashionably.

So it sounds like Chanel was a feminist, doesn’t it?  Feminism at the time was more to do with politics, with suffragettes picketing for the right to vote etc, but Chanel was a trailblazer who emancipated women via fashion.

But then we have the other side of it. Chanel never married but she had a string of lovers.  Sounds very independent and emancipating… but her first few lovers actually gave her her start – either by funding her shop, or by introducing her to an elite crowd who became her customers. She was talented and resourceful, sure, but would she have made it without their patronage?

And if she had to rely on wealthy male patronage, doesn’t that make her anti-feminist?  Or was she, in a world where she is disadvantaged due to her sex, status and background, merely turning her assets to her advantage to advance her career?

Secondly, while Chanel designed comfortable clothing, she very much based her aesthetic on her own body type which was slim. The other side of the coin was that women who were curvy  wouldn’t look as nice in her outfits.

Apparently because women were eager to fit into her designs, (and also because a slim figure had become the aesthetic du jour), Chanel indirectly pushed women to start dieting to slim themselves down.  Back then it was thought that smoking would cause weight loss too, and tons of women picked up the habit.

Chanel herself didn’t seem very forgiving about it bigger body types, as is evidenced in this passage from my book.

So what do you think? Was Coco Chanel a feminist?