The origins of the Chanel tweed suit
It’s well known that Coco Chanel revolutionized the use of tweed in women’s fashion. In the 1920s when the designer was in a relationship with the Duke of Westminster, she fell in love with the material after borrowing her beau’s tweed sportswear.
In 1983, following Chanel’s death in the previous decade, Karl Lagerfeld revived the brand and revamped the styling of its tweed suit. It has been at the forefront of fashion ever since. In recent seasons many designers have shown modern interpretations of classic tweed sportswear.
Chanel’s Métiers d’Art Runway Show
For this year’s ‘Métiers d’Art’ presentation, Chanel’s current designer, Virginie Viard, chose to stage the show in Dakar, Senegal. Among the 62 looks were many interpretations of the iconic tweed suit.
Several other designers used tweed in novel ways. Wes Gordon at Carolina Herrera showed a tweed mini skirt paired to a white blouse with black embroidery, and a dress with a flounced hem and a matching cropped jacket.
At Prabal Gurung, a red and blue plaid tweed jacket with a fringe trim and matching mini skirt was accessorized in an unexpected way with black PVC gloves and leggings.
Not all designers went in a directional way. For Chloe, Gabriela Hearst showed a classic pants suit in pink tweed with a fitted one button jacket.
Alessandra Rich paired a black, grey and red maxi length tweed skirt in a window pane check with a cropped pink ribbed mock turtleneck.
Thom Browne executed several long lean looks using a grey and white tweed. Look 8 included a coat, jacket, skirt and ankle boots. The inclusion of plaid hose elongated the outfit.
By Jayne Mountford , Fashionunited
