Coco Chain-el*
*Pun combining “Chain” and “nel” from “Chan-el”
« Nothing is more beautiful than freedom of the body »
Coco Chanel Store, Passeig de Gràcia, 70, Barcelona, Spain
“Coco Chainel” unmasks the erosion of feminism symbolized by brands such as Coco Chanel, which under the cover of ‘women liberation’ slowly imposed standard sizing and masculine models as ideal of beauty and body size. As time passes, feminine curves become flat male shapes, before transforming into straight lines.
Rake-thin, cigarette eternally in hand, Chanel embodied indeed modernist chic. Chanel herself was the epitome of what these women strove to be: independent, dynamic, slim and sporty. Her cropped hair and boyish figure became the ideal for many young women, and the straight lines and boxy silhouettes of her designs were tailor-made for that figure.
As she dropped the waistline to the hips and exposed more of the leg, a change that dictated a need for flattening brassieres, Coco Chanel promoted standard sizing of clothing, making women’s bodies more measurable than ever. From then, a trip to the department store has become an embarrassing situation for a woman who did not attain the standard.