The cuff of her black, tailored, jacket sleeve is longer than most--which is to say, it is exactly the right length for elegance. It flows, gently around her petite wrist, forming an opal-shaped darkness, penetrated by her graceful hand. The linear pants, of matching color, know exactly where to embrace and glide over every variation of her majestic form. But she is aging beautifully, because she has earned it. As the woman herself believed: the beauty you have at twenty is simply what has been given you, but the beauty you have at fifty is what you have earned. The woman in question is Coco Chanel, best known for launching the Chanel suit in 1923, inspired by men’s clothing and her modern take on life, on fashion. Today’s version of this, designed by Karl Lagerfeld, is one of the most stunning, sharp, and elegant items in fashion today. The first time I discovered its existence, I was looking through a copy of Vogue magazine, and I saw a full length picture of Nicole Kidman. She wore a black, long sleeve, Chanel jacket, over a simple white blouse, the cuffs of which flowed out under the fringed cuffs of the Chanel jacket, which were slightly flared to perfection as they followed the shape of Kidman’s arm. It struck me. She wore simple “skinny fit” jeans, with a slightly lighter wash, and black ballet flats. And what I hadn’t realized until then was that it was Chanel that made it work. Chanel made the outfit work, over all 5 feet 10 ½ inches of Kidman’s height and slender form, it was pure elegance. It may seem odd to describe a look which involves blue jeans elegant, but Lagerfeld continues the tradition of Coco’s beliefs in every inch of fabric he designs, and one of her strongest notions was that elegance does not necessarily have to be found in a dress, “elegance is refusal.” (Coco Chanel) Whether it is the refusal to follow a trend, the refusal to conform to societal views pertaining to women, or the refusal to accept something that’s good for someone else as being necessarily good for yourself; from the moment you slip into that tailored jacket, you are refusing all of those things. And you are elegant.
This is exquisitely visible in the Chanel ads that Vanessa Paradis has modeled for recently. Not only does she sport the jacket in stunning ads, with a pure white background, and a sophisticated, real take on fashion, but also in articles such as one I spotted in 2002, from Marie Claire. It was a progression of fashion throughout history, and the final page was Chanel, entitled: “Androgynous”, with Vanessa leaning against a solid grey block, in skinny jeans accompanied by an eclectic Chanel charm belt, and black pumps, shirtless, save for the tailored black jacket with long sleeves and fringed cuffs. Her hands on either side of the jacket front opening, one could see more than a glimpse of her chest and abs, but it was ever tasteful. It wouldn’t have mattered if she were naked underneath the jacket…Chanel brings more than fabric and fashion to the wearer--it brings tailored elegance to each form it covers, and in so doing, it may even reveal a great deal more about ourselves, about our beauty, than we realize.