Tea at Trianon: The Story of Chanel's Tweed

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, April 12, 2014

The Story of Chanel's Tweed

From Elle:

There is nothing quite as iconic as a classic Chanel tweed piece. If you’ve had the honor of wearing one—a jacket, a dress, a skirt—you know that its texture, its weight, and its very aura are the things magic is made of.

Her use of the now legendary fabric was not only inspired by menswear, but by a man—and a Duke no less. After borrowing sportswear from her beau, the Duke of Westminster, Chanel realized the comfortable, supple fabric had a sophisticated quality that would lend itself well to her designs. Beginning in 1924, Chanel enlisted a Scottish factory to produce her iconic tweed fabrics for everything from sportswear to suits and coats. She’d choose colors she was inspired by from the Scottish countryside, bringing back leaves and bits of earth to her manufacturers. (Read more.)