There she is,in the looming black and white portraits dominating the generous rooms of theNational Gallery of Victoria. Chanel’s sophistication and sensuality emanate just as strongly from the liberated silhouettes of a 95-year-old pleated ivory silk dress and the parade of intricate black silk gowns from the 1930s,which would impress on any red carpet today.
With more than 230 pieces from the Palais Galliera in Paris whereGabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto was first presented last year,along with loans from Chanel’s archives and private collections,there was no way of banishing the controversial designer’s colourful existence from such an alluring assembly of her output,despite the original intention of the French curators.
Miren Arzalluz,the director of the Palais Galliera,wanted to keep the spotlight fixed on Chanel’s design skills and lasting influence on how women dress,shifting attention away from her notorious biography.
Born in 1883 to a street vendor and a laundry woman,Chanel rose through French society on the arms of her wealthy lovers,textile heir Etienne Balsan,playboy Captain Arthur Edward “Boy” Capel and the second Duke of Westminster. Outside bedrooms and ballrooms,she amassed a personal fortune by designing clothes,accessories and fragrances that reflected her ambition for independence.
There was also Chanel’s controversial behaviour as the lover of Nazi officer Hans Günther von Dincklage during World War II,which may be why it took so long for Paris to honour her with a retrospective following her death in 1971.
This curatorial airbrushing is futile,with Chanel’s colourful life shining through as brightly as the pink ostrich feathers trimming the bodice of a printed gown from 1939,on loan from Sydney’s Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. These dresses were designed for Chanel’s rarefied existence,even if they became the uniforms of stars including Marlene Dietrich,Jackie Kennedy and Grace Kelly,and the fantasies of women around the world.