19 August,2011 10:23 AM IST | | Piali dasgupta
It's the 126th birth anniversary of the legendary French designer Coco Chanel. And who better than Sanchita, the only city designer who's steadfastly carrying on the legacy of Chanel's androgynous style, to pay a tribute to the designer who initially aspired to be a singer? We're glad that her singing career went nowhere. Else, the world would have never seen the Little Black Dress(lbd). here, sachita talks about how coco inspired her
How has Coco's androgyny style inspired your design ethos. Chanel's androgynous style was revolutionary. She was an iconoclast and the way she incorporated different styling, appeal and even the feel of a garment is something I feel inspired by. Androgynous style refers to the blurring of boundaries and I believe in that. Merging the Yin and the Yang and creating a fusion out of it is what it entails.
Do you agree with Coco's statements:u00a0 A women who doesn't wear perfume has no future?
AND
Fashion fades, only style remains the same.
I truly feel that fashion fades and style remains. Look at our fashion world. There are styles that are iconic and they get created/ replicated in different forms. And yes, perfumes are essential.
Chanel used men's underwear to create dresses. Have you thought of doing anything that radical?
Using men's underwear as a dress was indeed a radical swipe but I may have a different way of being radical. I think that the basic categories are two: jocks and nerds. Men are known in making style options and dress or redress to recreate social roles. My style is more towards the latter who is conservative yet flamboyant, tapping into his inner geek including self-conscious mixing of patterns and oppositional stripes and sumptuous play of textures.
Have you seen any of the films made on her? Which film, according to you, portrayed her most accurately?
Coco-Chanel-Igor-Stravinsky made by Jan Kounen came close to depicting the combats of two creative geniuses. There's always the power struggle of parallel careers conducted with a driven, single-minded fervor by artists at the peak of their creativity. Although the movie visits Chanel's workshop, it devotes more time to the meticulous creation of her signature perfume, Chanel No. 5
What was the most fascinating thing about Chanel?
Coco said, "Nobody can live with low horizons. A narrow outlook will choke you." It is this spirit of Coco that will be indelible from the pages of history.
Other than the LBD that she gave the world, what would you say was her biggest contribution to fashion?
Her relaxed fashion, short skirts and casual look were in sharp contrast to the corset fashion popular in the previous decades. Chanel herself dressed in mannish clothes, and adopted comfortable fashion which other women also found liberating.
On your trips to Paris, do you visit the famed Hotel Ritz, where Chanel breathed her last and was living for 30 years?
I do! It's a beautiful place.
