Coco Chanel

Coco Chanel adjusts the armhole of a model's dress with an assistant. ---1961 Paris

Coco Chanel adjusts the armhole of a model’s dress with an assistant. —1961 Paris

As Chanel once said : “Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise, it is not luxury.”

N°5 ChanelAhead of her time :

The first designer to create élégant and comfortable clothes for women. She innovated by the use of jersey fabric. She worked until her death in 1971 at the age of 88. She is still influencing women’s lifestyles and clothing.

She created : 

Sophisticated outfits paired with great accessories, such as several strands of pearls

Her little black dress

The legendary Chanel suit,with collarless jacket and well-fitted skirt. Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly fell in love with her stylish cardigan suits.        

Her perfumes. In 1922, she launched Chanel n°5.

 

 

Chanel - Quote1

 

Coco Chanel in 1960

 

Her life 

Born Gabrielle Chanel in 1883, in the Loire Valley. Her mother died when she was 6 . Her father sent her to the orphanage of the Catholic monastery where she learned the trade of a seamstress. When she was 18, she took up work for a local tailor. In 1910, she opened her first shop (hats) « Chanel Modes » in Paris : 21 rue Cambon – Paris. In 1913 she opened a shop (hats) in Deauville, then in 1915, in Biarritz. In 1919, she opened a house of fashion in Paris

By the 1920’s, she opened her shop in Paris : 31 rue Cambon (near Place de la Concorde), which remains Chanel headquarters to this day.

She has lived (until her death in 1971) at the Ritz Hotel in Paris for over thirty years.

The best things

Chanel vs Dior - 1959

 

 

Would you like to visit Coco Chanel’s Paris apartment  ?  31, rue Cambon – Paris 1(Not opened to the public)

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Coco Chanel at her apartment

Coco Chanel at her apartment – 31 rue Cambon – Paris 1

She also lived 30 years in the Ritz Hotel until her death in 1971

Chanel at the Ritz

Coco Chanel at the Ritz

Some movies featuring Chanel:

Coco Chanel (2008) : a television movie starring Shirley MacLaine as a 70-year-old Chanel.

Coco before Chanel (2009) : French actress Audrey Tautou played the designer as a young woman.

Simplicity

If you enjoyed watching Coco Chanel working and her models on the cat walk, read more below

(more…)

Midnight in Paris - L'affiche

Romantic Paris

Midnight in Paris - L'affiche

“Midnight in Paris” (2011) is a romantic comedy film, set in Paris, written and directed by Woody Allen. While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée’s family, Gil, a writer finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920’s. He loves Paris and dreams of living in the city after getting married to his fiancée. Gil believes that the golden age of Paris was in the 204s and loves walking in the city.  While going back to the 20’s, he meets his favorite artists : Hemingway, Picasso, Fitzgerald, Dali…

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Some of the movie’s spots :

  • St Etienne du Mont church, Where, willing to be alone, Gil take a breath of fresh air. The “magic” steps are to the side of the
    THE steps

    THE steps

    church facing north. The church is where, Blaise Pascal, Jean Racine are buried. rue de la Montagne Sainte-Geneviève – Paris 5 – Metro : Cardinal Lemoine or Luxembourg

 

  • Rue Galande Paris 5 – On the left bank with little shops. x - Rue Galande b03f762c
  • Hotel Le Bristol, John and Helen stay at the five star Hôtel Le Bristol in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. They are accompanied by their daughter Inez and her writer fiancé …        Hotel Le Bristol – 112 rue du Faubourg st Honoré – Paris 1st :  a luxurious Parisian hotel where Gil and Inez are staying. Metro stop : Miromesnil
  • Hotel Le Meurice, Gil, Inez, Paul and Nina enjoy a wine-tasting on a terrace of this hotel. – A five-star luxury hotel in Paris.  Overlooking the Tuileries. Among this hotel’s guests : Queen Victoria, Alphonse XIII, the Shah of Iran, Tchaïkovshy, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali (Dali spent at least one month of each year at Le Meurice)…Le Meurice –  228 rue de Rivoli – Paris 1stCocktail avec arrière plan Tour Eiffel0
  • Restaurant Le Grand Véfour, 17 rue de Beaujolais (nearby the Palais Royal) – Metro stop : Bourse or Pyramides  : Where Gil and Inez dine with her parents. A restaurant with a impressive list of customers : Napoleon, Josephine,Colette,Victor Hugo,Jean Paul Sartre, Jean Cocteau…  
  • Place Vendome, Paris 1  – Metro stop : Tuileries : where Inez and her mother talk wedding rings in Chopard .x- ChopardVendomeView_Midnight
  • Restaurant Le Polidor, Where Gil meets and talks to Hemingway about his book. Le Polidor – 41 rue Monsieur le Prince – Paris 6 – Metro : Odéon –  Among Le Polidor’s guests : Ernest Hemingway, Paul Verlaine, André Gide, James Joyce, Antonin Artaud, Jack Kerouac.restaurant-polidor-midnight-in-paris-film-locations-ouen-paris
  • Restaurant Paul, When a coach and horses arrive to give Adriana her own trip back into the past. Some regulars at this restaurant : Yves Montand and Simone Signoret, who happened to live in an apartment above the restaurant. Restaurant Paul – rue Henri Robert, Place Dauphine – Paris 1st (at the opposite end of the Ile de la Cité – Metro : Pont Neuf – Restaurant Paul filename-dscn2946-jpg
  • Rodin Museum, Where Paul contradicts the guide about the women Rodin was involved with.    Musée Rodin – Hotel Biron 79 rue de Varenne – Paris 7 – Metro stop : Varenne. 

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  • Orangerie Museum, Place de la Concorde – Paris 1 – Metro Concorde – Some of Monet’s pictures are displayed there with works by Paul cézanne, Henri Matisse, Renoir and others.
  • Quai de Bourbon on the western tip of the Saint Louis island Metro Pont Marie. Gil goes to a party with Cole Porter playing piano, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.2015-01-21 - Midnight in Paris - Capture d’écran 2015-01-21 à 04.24.11
  • 17, Rue Malebranche – Paris 5 Metro : Luxembourgrue Malebranche - 9010008908_cdcb9b9c48
  • 27, rue de Fleurus – Paris 6 – Metro Saint Placide – Where Gil meets Pablo Picasso his his current mistress Adriana (Marion Cotillard)
    • Montmartre : rue du Chevalier de la Barre and rue Lamarck – Metro : Anvers or Lamark Caulaincourt
  • Parc Jean XXIII, Ile de la Cité Paris 1er  (behind Notre Dame) – Metro stop : Saint Michel or La Cité – Where Adriana’s journal is read to Gil.midnightinparis10
  • Maison Deyrolle, 46 rue du Bac – Paris – Metro : rue du Bac – Where the Surrealist wedding party takes place.
  • Maxim’s 3 rue Royale – Metro Concorde
  • L’Ile de France, 59, Quai de la Tournelle – Where Gil goes after finally splitting with Inez.
  • Shakespeare and Company, 37, rue de la Bucherie – Paris 5shakespeare-and-co
  • Pont Alexandre III, metro : Invalides  : where Gil and Gabrielle meet up in the rain. He acknowledges that “Paris is at its most beautiful in the rain”    Fin de l'histoire - tumblr_ndqmrwjFrN1re6b50o1_500

Rain Scene - hqdefault

Midnight in Paris (In French : “Minuit à Paris”) – 2011 – Directed by Woody Allen – with Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, Rachel McAdams, Tom Hiddlestrn, Alison Pill, Kathy Bates, Corey Stoll, Adien Brody, Olivier Rabourdin, Kurt Fuller

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