The Masculine Influences of Chanel: Boy Chanel | Alex Dellal

Dear Letter Lovers,

When Coco Chanel launched the brand back in the 20's  her vision was to replace opulent, 'sexy' pieces with items that conveyed casual elegance. 

And that is how many consumers perceive the brand nowadays:

| Elegant, Classic, Selective |

But what many fail to acknowledge was that Coco 

was particularly avant-garde for her time, 

introducing "the trouser" into the female wardrobe. 

  "I gave women a sense of freedom," she once said.

"I gave them back their bodies: bodies that were drenched 

in sweat, due to fashion's finery, lace, corsets, underclothes, padding."

A feminist, Coco focused on the values of  female 

liberalization and emancipation.

And though the brand is built on the pillar of elegance, over the years, Karl Lagerfeld has brought to the brand a sense of irreverence. 

How?

 

With the choice of bohemian, outspoken brand ambassadors, many of them head-turners & heiresses that include the gapped-toothed 

Vanessa Paradis, Georgia Jagger, Daphne Guinness, Lilly Allen & Leigh Lezark.

Never quite the classic choice. 

Lily Allen for Chanel | 2009

And in March 2012 came the official launch of Alice Dellal

 for the Boy Chanel bag campaign.

Karl fell in love with her during a particular photoshoot 

in 2011 & proceeded to ask that the heiress be

 shot as the new face of Boy Chanel. 

... & Alice couldn't be more liberalized or emancipated ...

 Alice Dellal | Boy Chanel

 

According to an article by Interview Magazine, 

the styling of this particular campaign is to be highlighted. 

"Dellal is generally associated with a more hard-edged, androgynous glamour—she is, after all, the girl responsible for the trend of shaving the left side of your head". 

  

Heiress, Gallery Owner, Punk-Rock Drummer, Model:

She's grunge, she's dark, she's punk, she's a rebel.

 &

Therefore it's all about studs, leather, zips, rips and blacks.  

   

& 

| Part of the original Alex Wang Gang |

Pretty Cool Right?

| The Boy Chanel campaign reveals Dellal in a more feminine light |

The first photo of the shoot, portrays the rebel in a floaty white dress and sitting in a rather rococo boudoir holding a silver quilted version of the bag. 

But the elements of the model's own personal style are omnipresent:

► Please note the hole in her stockings & intricate tattoos ◄

Enjoy: Boy Chanel | Alice Dellal 

| Coco Chanel |

Bringing the elements of the Masculine to the Female Sex for over 80 years. 

 

| Alice Dellal | could there have been a better choice for

Boy Chanel?  

“A unique, charismatic young lady…the perfect incarnation of all that is unique about the Boy Chanel handbag collection which strives far from conformist notions of femininity.”  Karl Lagerfeld

► C'est très bien ◄

Photos taken from Official Chanel Website | Credits Karl Lagerfeld 

Lots of Love From Fabulous Lisbon,

C.L.V  

○ My New Friend Boy ○