New Exhibition Devoted to Chanel’s Life and Work Opens in London

Members of staff looks at the different dresses and outfits displayed during the press photocall for the exhibition "Gabrielle Chanel, Fashion Manifesto" at the V&A museum in London, on September 12, 2023. (AFP)
Members of staff looks at the different dresses and outfits displayed during the press photocall for the exhibition "Gabrielle Chanel, Fashion Manifesto" at the V&A museum in London, on September 12, 2023. (AFP)
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New Exhibition Devoted to Chanel’s Life and Work Opens in London

Members of staff looks at the different dresses and outfits displayed during the press photocall for the exhibition "Gabrielle Chanel, Fashion Manifesto" at the V&A museum in London, on September 12, 2023. (AFP)
Members of staff looks at the different dresses and outfits displayed during the press photocall for the exhibition "Gabrielle Chanel, Fashion Manifesto" at the V&A museum in London, on September 12, 2023. (AFP)

The little black dress. The tweed dress suit. The perfume simply known as No. 5.

Those instantly-recognizable fashion classics, and many more lesser-known designs by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, are celebrated in a major new exhibition at London's V&A Museum dedicated to the life and work of the famed French designer.

Curators have brought together nearly 200 outfits seen together for the first time, charting Chanel's long career from the opening of her millinery boutique in Paris in 1910 to her final collection in 1971.

"Of course there are many elements that we are all familiar about Gabrielle Chanel and what she contributed to fashion,” said Connie Karol Burks, one of the curators. “But in this exhibition we expand out from that, and we really look in detail at how her approach to design influenced the way we all dress.”

The exhibition begins with one of the earliest surviving Chanel garments — a simple cream blouse from 1916 made from silk jersey, a humble fabric previously used for underwear and stockings.

Chanel was the first to show the fabric's appeal for high fashion, curators said, and the blouse sets the tone for the relaxed elegance and defiance of the more rigid fashions of the day that the designer is known for.

“What's really striking about it is just how modern it looks today,” more than a century later, Burks said.

Visitors at the exhibition are treated to galleries filled with Chanel's creations, including her famous little black dresses — an enduring hit that, in 1926, American Vogue magazine likened to the popular Ford car and predicted that “all the world will wear.”

The show's highlight is a mirrored room filled from floor to ceiling with a stunning display of Chanel's signature suits, from monochrome black and cream to more cheerful shades of rose, lilac and red.

There are also on display outfits created for Hollywood stars Lauren Bacall and Marlene Dietrich, and sections devoted to Chanel's coveted perfumes and handbags. The finale is a showstopping recreation of the mirrored staircase in Chanel's couture salon in Paris, populated with mannequins donning a collection of the designer's opulent evening gowns.

Tristram Hunt, the V&A's director, said the museum hoped that the new display will build on and follow the successes of previous blockbuster fashion exhibitions featuring Christian Dior and Alexander McQueen.

“Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto” opens on Saturday, and runs until Feb. 25.



Uniqlo Operator Posts Higher Q1 Profit Despite Sluggish China Results

(FILES) This general view shows the latest flagship store to open by Fast Retailing clothing brand Uniqlo, in the Shinjuku district of central Tokyo on November 14, 2024 (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)
(FILES) This general view shows the latest flagship store to open by Fast Retailing clothing brand Uniqlo, in the Shinjuku district of central Tokyo on November 14, 2024 (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)
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Uniqlo Operator Posts Higher Q1 Profit Despite Sluggish China Results

(FILES) This general view shows the latest flagship store to open by Fast Retailing clothing brand Uniqlo, in the Shinjuku district of central Tokyo on November 14, 2024 (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)
(FILES) This general view shows the latest flagship store to open by Fast Retailing clothing brand Uniqlo, in the Shinjuku district of central Tokyo on November 14, 2024 (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)

The operator of the Uniqlo global clothing chain reported first quarter results on Thursday that trailed analyst forecasts as a sharp decline in profit in China overshadowed strong sales in its home market of Japan, Reuters reported.

Fast Retailing said operating profit rose 7.4% to 157.6 billion yen ($996.84 million) in the three months through November from a year earlier. That was slightly below a LSEG consensus forecast of 160 billion yen drawn from six analysts.

Fast Retailing maintained its full-year operating profit forecast of 530 billion yen, on course for a fourth year of record earnings.

Known for inexpensive, durable fleeces and cotton shirts, Fast Retailing has long been regarded as a bellwether for consumer spending in Japan and more recently China, where it has more than 900 Uniqlo stores on the mainland.

Domestic sales have gotten a boost from a surge in duty-free shopping amid a tourism boom in Japan fueled by a weak yen.
But sales growth has cooled in China, prompting the company to scale back store openings and adopt a scrap-and-build strategy to turn around underperforming locations with redesigned stores.

Improved profit margins and international brand awareness helped drive the previous year's record results. But the company remains vulnerable to change in weather and fashion tastes.

Japanese sales were boosted by cold weather in December that increased demand for thermals, but in China, unseasonably warm temperatures resulted in flat sales in October and November, the company said.

Results were also strong in North America and Europe where Fast Retailing is mounting an aggressive expansion strategy to fulfil its aim to become the world's No. 1 clothing brand. In the southern United States, it opened five Uniqlo stores in Texas in October alone.
In its home market, it has also become a pacesetter for wages in the service industry.

Keen to retain good workers, Fast Retailing said on Wednesday it will institute an aggressive increase in employee pay in Japan - one that follows on from a hike in 2023 that helped shake up the nation's long moribund wage outlook.

Wages for full-time headquarters and sales staff will rise by as much as 11% from March, while annual salaries for new employees will increase by about 10%, the company said.