The V&A’s very enjoyable exhibition Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto kicks off with a photograph of the designer outside one of her first boutiques. At 29, she does not yet look like Coco, queen of chic: her long skirt is somewhat stodgy, her belted sweater a little lumpy. There is no glitter-flecked tweed, nor ropes of pearls. But the jut of her chin as she squints into the sunshine in Deauville, northern France, under the awning printed with her name, the hands clenched into boxer’s fists and thrust into her pockets, makes her instantly recognisable as a force of nature.
This blockbuster exhibition is first and foremost the story of a formidable woman. Born into poverty and chaos in rural France and brought up by convent nuns, Gabrielle Chanel became the architect of the modern woman’s wardrobe. Chanel’s tweed suits, little black dresses and iconic glass perfume bottles are a chic supporting cast, but there can be no overshadowing this protagonist.
