Art Deco is also called style modern. It was a movement in the decorative arts and architecture that originated in the 1920s. It later developed into a major style in Western Europe and the United States in the 1930s. The style was first exhibited in 1925 in the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris. Art Deco represented modernism turned into fashion. The products includes luxury crafted items and mass-produced wares. The intention was to create a sleek and anti-traditional elegance that symbolized wealth and sophistication. The features of the styles were simple, clean shapes often with a ‘streamlined’ look. Art Deco objects were rarely mass-produced. The features of the style reflected admiration for her modernity of the machine and for the inherent design qualities of machine-made objects. Art Deco stemmed from influences on art such as Art Nouveau, the Bauhaus, Cubism and Serge Diaghiley’s Ballets Russes. However, the decorative ideas came from American Indian, Egyptian and early classical sources as well as nature. Most art Deco designers crafted limited-edition items. Some of these items included Maurice Dufrene; the architect Eliel Sarrinen; matealsmith Jean Puiforcat; glass and jewellery designer Rene Lalique; fashion designer Erte; artist-jewellers Raymond Templier,H.G. Murphy, and Wiwen Nilson; and the figural sculptor

Art Deco and its Influence on Fashion

Bakst, Leon: costume design for Ballets Russes production of Maurice Ravel’s Daphins et Chloe, 1912; in a private collection.

Chiparus. By World War II Art Deco was out of fashion. However, later on in the 1960s there was a renewed interest in Art Deco Design. Still in the 21st century, Art Deco is a source of inspiration for decorative art, fashion and jewellery design. The Ballet Russes revolutionised the early 20th century arts and still continues to influence art today. The founder was Serge Pavlovich Diahilev. He would design ballet fashion and by May 1909 he had released his first season of Russian ballet in Paris. The striking designs dazzled audiences. The first Ballets Russes seasons were marked by exotic designs of the Russian-born artist Leon Baskt. In 1914, when the First World War broke out, the Ballet Russes had completed five years but did not reform until 1915. By 1920 Ballet Russes developed a considerable repertoire to which French avant-garde artists such as Matisse, Derain and Braque designed productions for Ballet Russes. Still today Ballet Russes influences the world of ballet and fashion with the exhibition Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballet Russes, 1909-1920, on display at the V&A on the 25th September 2010. Coco Chanel was born ‘Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel’ on 19th August 1883 in Samur France. She was put into an orphanage at a young age due to her mother’s death. She was raised by nuns who taught her how to sew. Her nickname ‘coco’ came from one of the songs she used to sing and she

Costumes for brigands in Fokine's ballet Daphnis and Chloé, designed by Léon Bakst, 1912. Museum no. S.508&A, B-1979; S.639&A, B, 635&A, C-1980, © Victoria & Albert Museum, London

said it was a “shortened version of cocotte, the French word for kept woman”. Around the age of 20, Chanel was involved with Etienne Balsan, who helped her start a millinery business in Paris. She opened her first shop on Paris’s Rue Cambon in 1910 where she started out selling hats. She later opened stores in Deauville and Biarritz and began making clothes. Her first fashion success was when she created a dress form an old jersey on a chilly day. Many people asked where she got the dress and so she offered to make one for them. By the 1920s, Chanel’s business was thriving. She launched her infamous perfume, Chanel No.5, which was the first to feature a designer’s name. in 1925, she introduced the now legendary Chanel Suit with collarless jacket and well-fitted skirt. Her designs were revolutionary, as she would use men’s designs and create women’s fashion. She wanted to emphasize comfort over constraints. Another iconic design was Chanel’s little black dress. She took a colour once associated with mourning and showed how chic it could be for evening wear. The economic depression of the 1930s had a negative impact on her company, but it was the outbreak of World War II that led her to close her business. During the war she got involved with a German military officer, Hans Gunther von Dincklage. She was interrogated about her relationship but was not charged as a collaborator. Even though she was no officially charged, she still suffered in the court of public opinion. People

Coco Chanel.Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

would say that her relationship with a Nazi officer was a betrayal of her country. At the age of 70, Chanel made a triumphant return to the fashion world. Even though she received scathing reviews from critics she still managed to create the most famous fashion wear in history. In 1969, Chanel’s life story became the basis for the Broadway musical Coco. The show received seven Tony Award nominations. Coco Chanel died on 10th

January, 1971 at her apartment in the Hotel Ritz. She never married as she once said “I never wanted to weigh more heavily on a man than a bird.” Just over a decade after her death, designer Karl Lagerfeld took over her company to continue the Chanel Legacy. Today her company is held privately by the Wertheimer family and has generated hundreds of millions in sales each year.

Chanel in her LBD. Sketch by Karl Lagerfeld

Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle: Art Deco Art MovementWritten By: The editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaUpdated: 11th February 2017Can be found: https://www.britannica.com/art/Art-Deco

WikipediaArticle: Art DecoUpdated: 16th December 2016Can be found: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Deco

V&AArticle: Diaghilev and the Ballets RussesCan be found: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/diaghilev-and-the-ballets-russes

Russian Ballet HistoryArticle: Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes 1909-19929

References

Can be found: http://www.russianballethistory.com

BiographyArticle: Coco ChanelCan be found: https://www.biography.com/people/coco-chanel-9244165

Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle: Coco Chanel French DesignerWritten by: The editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaUpdated: 15th November 2017Can be found: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Coco-Chanel