Critics Scoffed but Women Bought: Coco Chanel's Comeback Fashions Reflect the Desires of the 1950s American Woman

Abstract

The date was February 5, 1954.The time-l2:00 P.M. 1 The place-Paris, France.The event-world renowned fashion designer Gabriel "Coco" Chanel's comeback fashion show.Fashion editors, designers, and journalists from England, America and France waited anxiously to document the event.2 With such high anticipation, tickets to her show were hard to come by.Some members of the audience even sat on the floor.3 Life magazine reported, "Tickets were ripped off reserved seats, and overwhelmingly important fashion magazine editors were sent to sit on the stairs." 4 The first to walk out on the runway was a brunette model wearing "a plain navy suit with a box jacket and white blouse with a little bow tie." 5 This first design, and those that followed, disap-1 Axel Madsen, Chanel: A Woman of her Own(New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1990), 287.2 Madsen, Chanel: A Woman of her Own, 287; Edmonde Charles-Roux, Chanel: Her Life, her world-and the women behind the legend she herself created, trans.Nancy Amphoux, (New York:

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