The origins of the Chanel tweed suit
It’s well known that Coco Chanel revolutionized the use of tweed in women’s fashion. In the 1920s when the designer was in a relationship with the Duke of Westminster, she fell in love with the material after borrowing her beau’s tweed sportswear.
In 1983, following Chanel’s death in the previous decade, Karl Lagerfeld revived the brand and revamped the styling of its tweed suit. It has been at the forefront of fashion ever since. In recent seasons many designers have shown modern interpretations of classic tweed sportswear.
Chanel’s Métiers d’Art Runway Show
For this year’s ‘Métiers d’Art’ presentation, Chanel’s current designer, Virginie Viard, chose to stage the show in Dakar, Senegal. Among the 62 looks were many interpretations of the iconic tweed suit.
Look 2 consisted of a jacket and bell bottom pants in a broad weave tweed.
Look 13 was a short-sleeved tunic and flared pants in pink and green tweed over a cashmere sweater.
Meanwhile, look 28 was an eclectic mix: a black tank top embellished with hearts and Chanel camellia pins, under a wrap front midi skirt in red and orange tweed, over blue jeans stenciled with the Chanel logo and camellias.
Pre-Fall 2023 Collections
Several other designers used tweed in novel ways. Wes Gordon at Carolina Herrera showed a tweed mini skirt paired to a white blouse with black embroidery, and a dress with a flounced hem and a matching cropped jacket.
Frederick Anderson’s collection included several garments in a green and blue window pane check. This included look 7 which had a jacket and matching mini skirt with a lace trim.
Stella McCartney showed a big shouldered DB jacket and matching skirt with an asymmetric hem cut on the bias in lightweight pink tweed.
At Prabal Gurung, a red and blue plaid tweed jacket with a fringe trim and matching mini skirt was accessorized in an unexpected way with black PVC gloves and leggings.
Alessandra Rich paired a black, grey and red maxi length tweed skirt in a window pane check with a cropped pink ribbed mock turtleneck.
Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared2 continued with the ‘jumble sale’ theme of recent seasons. Look 24 was a ‘Chanel style’ orange and yellow tweed coat with black and cream trim over blue jeans and intricately embroidered and embellished tall cowboy boots.
Thom Browne executed several long lean looks using a grey and white tweed. Look 8 included a coat, jacket, skirt and ankle boots. The inclusion of plaid hose elongated the outfit.