Portal Fashion

Balenciaga (/bəˌlɛnsiˈɑːɡə/ bə-LEN-see-AH-gə) is a Spanish luxury fashion line that was founded in 1919 by couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga in San Sebastián. Balenciaga produces ready-to-wear footwear, handbags, and accessories, and licenses its name and branding to Coty for fragrances. It is currently owned by the French corporation Kering. (Full article...)

Lingerie (UK: /ˈlæ̃ʒəri, ˈlɒn-/, US: /ˌlɒnʒəˈreɪ, ˌlænʒəˈriː/, French: [lɛ̃ʒʁi] ^ⓘ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fashionable, or both. In a 2015 US survey, 75% of women reported having worn "sexy lingerie" in their lifetime.

Lingerie is made of lightweight, stretchy, smooth, sheer or decorative fabrics such as silk, satin, Lycra, charmeuse, chiffon, or (especially and traditionally) lace. These fabrics can be made of various natural fibres like silk, cotton or of various synthetic fibres such as polyester or nylon. (Full article...)

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The "Darnley portrait", the official portrait of Elizabeth I of England, likely painted from life ca. 1575–76. This portrait is the source of a face pattern which would be used and reused for authorized portraits of Elizabeth into the 1590s, preserving the impression of ageless beauty. It features a crown and sceptre on a table beside the queen, and was the first appearance of these symbols of sovereignty separately used as props (rather than worn and carried) in Tudor portraiture, a theme that would be expanded in later portraits.

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• ... that Jacqueline Kennedy wore her pink Chanel suit (pictured) at the inauguration of President Lyndon B. Johnson, even though it was stained with her husband's blood?
• ... that a writers' strike in 2008 threatened the international fashion industry by leaving stars with nowhere to wear their red carpet gowns?
• ... that the wedding dress of Grace Kelly, characterized as "one of the most-beloved of all time", was designed by Helen Rose, a leading costume designer of the era for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)?

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Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (/ʃəˈnɛl/ shə-NEL, French: [ɡabʁijɛl bɔnœʁ kɔko ʃanɛl] ^ⓘ; 19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a French fashion designer and businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post–World War I era with popularizing a sporty, casual chic as the feminine standard of style. This replaced the "corseted silhouette" that had earlier been dominant with a style that was simpler, far less time-consuming to put on and remove, more comfortable, and less expensive, all without sacrificing elegance. She is the only fashion designer listed on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. A prolific fashion creator, Chanel extended her influence beyond couture clothing, realizing her aesthetic design in jewellery, handbags, and fragrance. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5, has become an iconic product, and Chanel herself designed her famed interlocked-CC monogram, which has been in use since the 1920s.

Her couture house closed in 1939, with the outbreak of World War II. Chanel stayed in France and was criticized during the war for collaborating with the Nazi-German occupiers and the Vichy puppet regime to free her nephew from a prisoner of war camp. To secure his release Chanel began a liaison with a German diplomat/spy she had known before the war, Baron (Freiherr) Hans Günther von Dincklage. And following her nephew's release, she collaborated in minor ways. After the war, Chanel was interrogated about her relationship with Dincklage, but she was not charged as a collaborator due to intervention by her friend—British prime minister Winston Churchill. When the war ended, Chanel moved to Switzerland, returning to Paris in 1954 to revive her fashion house. In 2011, Hal Vaughan published a biography about Chanel based on newly declassified documents, revealing that she had collaborated directly with the Nazi intelligence service, the Sicherheitsdienst. One plan in late 1943 was for her to carry an SS peace overture to Churchill to end the war. (Full article...)

• ... that during the Second World War, the British government's campaign Make-Do and Mend encouraged the public to fashion men's clothes into womenswear?
• ... that fashion psychology is an interdisciplinary field that studies the interaction between human behavior, psychology, and fashion?
• ... that chemist Betty Lou Raskin said in 1958 that society was wasting the "brainpower" of women, and blamed the media for making the mink coat the "symbol of female success" and not the lab coat?
• ... that a scene from the television adaptation of the manga It's All About the Looks was filmed at the Tokyo Girls Collection fashion show?
• ... that Broadway actress Isabelle Urquhart started a fashion trend when she decided to reveal her figure on stage by not wearing petticoats?
• ... that much of the research in dress history has been done from documents, illustrations, and photographs rather than by studying items of clothing?

I wear my sort of clothes to save me the trouble of deciding which clothes to wear. — Katharine Hepburn

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