| ntent"> Recently I was fortunate to visit the exhibition | | | | importance of hidden luxury: the inside should be as |
| The Secrets of the Chanel Handbag’ held at | | | | good as the outside. As a result, the same amount of |
| Chanel’s New York flagship store on 57th St it | | | | care still goes into the lining of each bag as goes into |
| was only on for a limited run from May 8-16 (I am | | | | its exterior. Once the bag is put together they then |
| hoping that the exhibition’ will travel and visit | | | | screw in all the hardware and grommets etc. The |
| us in London! The exhibit demonstrated the | | | | chain was made last and when the bag was finished it |
| construction and history of the company’s | | | | was dusted and polished before beautifully wrapping it |
| iconic 2.55 bags. The exhibition had 7 flat screen | | | | in tissue paper and dust bag. |
| TV’s, each screen showed the 7 steps in | | | | The CHANEL classic handbag was the first to be |
| making the handbag, (cut, quilting, assembly, shaping, | | | | worn and not hand held since the role of women was |
| turning out, chain and leather, packing) it was all | | | | changing the traditional handbags at the time were too |
| fascinating and mesmerizing! Basically the cutting and | | | | impractical. As a result the shoulder strap made its |
| stitching is all done by specially designed machine tools | | | | debut in the world of fashion. |
| and 80% of the total production time is spent on the | | | | I didn’t see other archive bags through I think |
| prep work involving over 180 stages. Once all the | | | | that would have been really cool to have seen the |
| components are prepped up all the pieces are then put | | | | very first CHANEL 2.55! Or maybe it would look how it |
| together by hand by Chanel’s own master | | | | is today or how much would it have been worth??? |
| craftsmen which involve over 10 hours skilled work. | | | | Today the Chanel 2.55 purse is just as much an It bag |
| The bags are sewn together inside out and then it | | | | as it always was. In 2005, in celebration of the bag's |
| was passed onto the next person who specialized in | | | | 50th anniversary, Lagerfeld revived the design exactly |
| delicately turning them back out - in keeping with | | | | as Mademoiselle Chanel had made it, and the reissue |
| Mademoiselle Chanel’s firm belief in the | | | | proved even more popular than its original. |