Coco avant et apres Chanel

2009 was a big year for movies about Coco Chanel. There was Coco avant Chanel (also known as Coco Before Chanel in many places) and Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky. Coco Avant Chanel is the famously publicized one, with Audrey Tautou as Coco, and the beginning trailers in the cinemas included a Chanel No. 5 commercial with Tautou in it (I saw it in the theatres last year). The focus of that movie was Coco's rise from a unknown seamstress to beginning to establish her store, mostly through the help of certain men and her relationships with them. That movie spent a lot of the storyline on relationships and romance, emphasis on "before" Chanel focuses only on her business. There was hardly anything about clothes other than Tautou occasionally wearing a signature Chanel piece all of a sudden. Nothing much on where the ideas for the clothes came from, she just wore them. So for a fashion person like me, it wasn't too impressive. Meanwhile, Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky focuses on Coco and her relationship with Igor Stravinsky, the composer. I didn't have a chance to see the movie myself but my friend, who's opinion I'd trust, told me that he simply didn't "feel" anything.

However, not long before Coco avant Chanel, there was Coco Chanel, a LifeTime TV movie mini series, with Shirley MacLaine starring as Coco Chanel. Even though the storyline is basically the same as that of Coco Avant Chanel, it was much more enjoyable. Almost four hours in total, split into two two-hour movies, I actually enjoyed this Chanel movie. For most of the movie, Barbora Bobulova played Coco Chanel in her earlier years, full of zest and a sense of independence.

The movie went step by step, showing Chanel's beginning as an orphan, then a seamstress, Chanel making hats on her own and eventually she opens her first hat store in Paris. Then there was war and how she had to put her hat business behind. Chanel then opens her first clothing boutique in Deauville, using light weight material, not traditional rich fabrics, to make clothes that women can move more comfortably in. After war, Chanel builds up her boutique and creates the famous double "C" logo. The story ends off with Coco presenting her second collection after World War II, being just as driven, full of inspiration, and daring in her fashion creations. Overall, regardless of whether everything in the movie was factual or not, the movie is definitely a recommendation to both fashion lovers and Chanel fans. It's a dose of what we'd all like to see in a Chanel movie: the romance, the fashion, and the inspiration of a free-spirited and powerful Chanel woman. Plus the French in it, as I said before, is very sexy. I give this movie a double thumbs up. So if you're ready for some major fashion inspiration and Chanel, Coco Chanel is available on itunes. Photos from Lifetime TV.

By the way, 2009 was also the year for Karl Lagerfeld's short film of "Paris-Shanghai: A Fantasy." Just two weeks ago, Karl Lagerfeld also released "Remember Now" at the recent Chanel Cruise 2010/2011 show. The films are pretty awesome. Take a look at the Chanel blog, under "Videos."
 
All for now, enjoy the weekend!