Tweed: Legacy of a Love Story
During Paris Fashion Week back in March, CHANEL inspires our Autumn-Winter 2022/23 wardrobes, bringing a twist on tweed like no other.
Deep magenta, khaki and ochre. Blush, slate and aquamarine. Glitter and fire.
Hues of an October evening sky, metallic highlights like water from a Highland burn (stream). Yet these were the colours not simply of a Scottish sunset, but bubbling from depths of the Grand Palais Éphémère, Paris. CHANEL Fall-Winter 2022/23 Ready-to-Wear collection, imagined by Virginie Viard will take us on a walk through the heather, the thistles, and the moss, right up the glittering catwalk and beyond.
Weaving People Together
Ever since the founding of CHANEL in 1910 in Paris, tweed has been a cherished textile for founder Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel, both on a business and personal level. After a weekend away in the Scottish Highlands, Gabrielle had borrowed the tweed jacket of her beloved Duke of Westminster and fell for the fabric. Tweed was a popular favourite with the British aristocracy and was the attire for country sports and farming. It was a fabric that came from the land: the sheep’s wool provided protection from the bitter elements, whilst its fibres, dyed from native lichens and wildflowers, provided apt camouflage for aristocratic gentlemen who wished to stalk a stag, or catch a salmon.
Back in the design studio in France, Gabrielle brought tweed to the studio to craft works of art for the wardrobe, and beyond. Fashion staples, such as Chanel’s tweed suit, became increasingly popular as its beauty was paired with comfort: Chanel was radical in her rejection for all things constricting, such as corsets during the 1920’s.
Virginie Viard, born in Lyon, France, is carrying on Gabrielle Chanel’s legacy today with the CHANEL Fall-Winter 2022/23 Ready-to-Wear collection. Since the death of Karl Lagerfeld in 2019, she has been the creative director of CHANEL. Caroline de Maigret, a model for CHANEL, comments on this continued legacy of free-spirited rebellion: “Gabrielle wanted to be free—she wanted to be able to jump on a horse, and go dancing like crazy, and then go to work,” says de Maigret. “And so she invented comfortable clothes. Virginie is answering the same question of what we want now.”
Twist on Tweed
Viard is certainly answering the question through evolving the classics to suit the times. Nevertheless, Virginie is loyal to Chanel’s key principles of elegance, sharing Coco Chanel’s love for tweed:
“I remember a show when Karl wanted just neoprene. I tried to make him love tweeds and all that because…neoprene at Chanel, the new molded bag? Horrible! We had to go back to the romance!”
Romance was revealed on the A/W 2022/23 runway. Along with tweed, there were patent mini stilettos, bouclette wool and jewel tones. Viard added edge with 60’s playful colour pops of glittering tights, gold chains and leather minidresses. There were also the echoes of Coco’s Scottish romance, with hints of masculine tailoring and oversize cuts, as well as rubber boots, taking in the pleasure of practicality and spontaneous long weekends.
A Duty to Protect
However, CHANEL’s innovativeness with tweed is not only enhancing fashion, but also the environment. Tweed celebrates a harmony of humankind and our earth’s resources.
It reminds us of the beauty of the natural world, and the importance to protect it. Traditionally, tweed is made through a process of gathering, washing, dyeing, cording, spinning, warping and weaving. Stewardship and sustainability are core principles at CHANEL, with their CHANEL Mission 1.5°. The goal is to limit the average global mean temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre- industrial levels. Through steps such as limiting carbon outputs, shifting to renewable energy, and using ecological textiles, CHANEL aims to protect the planet, its people, and inspire future generations with beauty in fashion. CHANEL has had a key role in the evolution of tweed. Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certifications have become an integral part of CHANEL’s textiles. Since the 1920’s, Gabrielle Chanel has blended traditional wool with other recycled materials, such as silk, cotton and cellophane, to play with texture and light.
Coco Chanel did more than simply putting her lover’s tweed jacket around her chilly shoulders. She revolutionised tweed for the emancipation of women on a global scale. She weaved the warm practicality, her holiday memories, and natural beauty into her haute couture designs. She took this initially masculine material and transformed it with feminine flair. In celebrating tweed, Chanel weaves a love story for fashion, the planet and for the people.
Image courtesy of Laura Chouette via Unsplash, ©2021, some rights reserved.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the wider St. Andrews Foreign Affairs Review team.
