1920's - Coco Chanel

1920's - Coco Chanel

Coco Chanel, a French fashion designer, epitomised the modern women. She designed comfortable loose dresses and clothes that were sporty, relaxed, wearable and well suited to the outdoor lifestyle that was being promoted as healthy in the 1920’s. 

These clothes were designed to be worn without corsets and were make with fewer linings to make them lighter and more flexible. Chanel believed that fashion must meet the needs of modern lifestyles and give women freedom of movement. In 1916 she began using kitted jersey fabric, a relatively cheap fabric used for underwear and by the 1918 was producing cardigans and twinsets. Chanel was one of the most influential designers of the 20^th century. Her clothes broke away from the fussy over decorated clothing of the 19^th century.

She adapted men’s tailoring and produced classic suits with short skirts, always relying on good cut, finish and high quality fabric. What we all now consider to be normal part of women’s clothing – trousers, tweeds, pea jackets, blazers and the little black dress were all introduced by Chanel.

Fashion became more widely available as clothing by designers were copied for RTW – ready to wear. Clothing that had once only been available for the wealthy was now available to women on the street. This was a dramatic change for ordinary people who had previously only had every day and ‘best’ clothes that had to last for years. Even though it was still unaffordable to most, this gave it a desirability factor.

The production of RTW was an important turning point in the democratisation of fashion. The very styling of the clothes themselves, together with the lower prices means that social class was now immediately shown by what you wore.