Resort Wear By Chanel Fashion House in 1910s
Cruise collections, also called resort wear have been in the DNA of Chanel from the beginning of its history. Coco Chanel has chosen Deauville – a resort town in Normandy as her first store outside Paris, which was also her first couture house in 1913. Chanel was very active and sporty herself and she has curated her collections to the needs of likeminded women who were enjoying outdoor activities on a sunny coastal resort. Sailor shirts, loose linen trousers, long skirts and turtlenecks were all designed for women’s comfort and freedom of movement, but were also very chic and elegant at the same time.
The boutique in a resort town was a great success and Chanel opened another store in a different resort town – Biarritz in 1915.
Coco Chanel’s Impact on Resort Fashion
One of the biggest things that Coco Chanel has brought into fashion was creating sportswear and resort wear that was considering the comfort of women and moving away from traditional romanticism that was typical for female fashion. Her impact on fashion has been irreversible. The new trends brought by Chanel opened a door to liberation of women from stereotypical ways of dressing.
Another revolutionary idea that Chanel’s resort wear had, was integration of the elements of the male fashion into female wardrobes. Coco has been pictured wearing tweed jackets and coats of her partners when fishing and hunting and she has brought this inspiration into her collections by making the cuts and shapes of the clothes more androgynous.
Resort Wear Then and Now
Just like regular spring summer and autumn winter collections, cruise collections have daytime and nigh time outfits. Traditionally cruise wear used to be very elegant and high end, especially eveningwear: men used to wear tuxedos and women were dressed in long gowns, covered in furs and luxury jewelry, during the cruise dinners that were attended by the captain as well. Daywear even if not as sophisticated as evening wear, was also quiet formal, consisting of elegant dresses for women, and suits with vests for men.
Originally cruise trips were around Mediterranean sea and available for the wealthy elite layers of the society. With time, resort wear has transformed to become more casual and designed for comfort of the travelers.
As international travel has become more available, popularity of Cruise / Resort wear has continued to grow,
In the modern fashion world, cruise collections or resort wear are an inter-season line of ready to wear collections produced by the luxury fashion houses in addition to the regular seasonal collections.
Cruise / Resort collections are displayed in the same manner as ready to wear and haute couture shows as in major fashion capitals, such as Paris, Milan, London, New York.
Cruise or Resort wear are produced by many fashion houses including, Dior, Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Fendi, Louis Vuitton and many more.
When it comes to Chanel’s resort collections, the fashion house chooses hosting city and creates looks inspired by the ‘holiday destination’ . The fashion show is usually a fusion of local ethnic motives and modern french fashion. Among the most popular cruise shows were the ones in Athens, Dubai, Monaco, Riviera and many more.
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