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Suit: jacket and dress
Wool bouclé, floral-printed silk
French, 1959-1963 Maker: Chanel
Gift of Caroline Goupillaud, 91.115.1ab

"Simplicity does not mean poverty." ... Gabrielle Chanel

"Maybe I'm not Chanel material. I've never flown to Marrakech for the weekend with a Grand Duke or been presented at court. [Though] as I slip into it, I feel as though I'm becoming a different woman, sophisticate, immaculate, possibly Parisian." ... Icons by Dodie Kazanjian, 1990

During the 1920s and 1930s Chanel was famous for her designs of casual elegance, and work with fabrics such as wool jersey. Her "poor chic" showed a grasp of the active, rapidly moving life of the modern woman. Chanel closed her house in 1939 shortly after France declared war and remained closed for fourteen years.

The Chanel suit was introduced in her "comeback" collection of February of 1954 at the age of 70. The suit was a continuation of her ideas developed in the 1920s and 1930s. It has appeared with minor variations in every collection since. The suit has become an icon, the uniform of a certain woman whether she lives in San Diego, Tokyo or Dubai