We love nothing better than a film about the fashion industry – they always seem to get it bang on! With eagle eyed fashionistas waiting to pounce on any flaw, there’s no allowances for outfits that are less than spectacular, so while mainstream cinema dismissed Coco Before Chanel (2009) as too fashionable to be taken seriously, the fashion world takes it very, very seriously indeed.
It’s hefty a role for any fashion designer to be faced with – recreating the role of one of fashion’s most iconic figures – Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, but the film works flawlessly.
With Audrey Tautou stepping up to the role of Coco, it was up to Catherine Leterrier to style her and keep as true to the character as possible. “The research process was the same as for any other period film,” Leterrier explained. “We did research from real garments – in museums, flea markets, vintage shops or private collections – and research from painting and photos. For the show of the end we used authentic outfits from the Chanel Conservatory and Audrey Tautou wore a Chanel suit inspired by ‘Mademoiselle’ in the Sixties.”
Her experimentation in fashion is a highlight throughout the film. As Coco improvises sleeve caps, learns what jersey fabric is, and watching her sketch designs is as though we really are watching the young designer flourish before our eyes. In one particular scene Coco watches the fishermen working, and then, surprise surprise, for the next scene she’s fashioning a striped sweater, “I put it on her to show that she was a tomboy, but very chic” says Leterrier. “She could turn working outfits into sophisticated looks.”
Leterrier achieved a historical accuracy with the help of Chanel, naturally, “The relationship with the House of Chanel was excellent, I was completely free designing exactly what I wanted for our film which takes place before Chanel created her ‘maison de couture’.”
Keeping true to the real Coco and inspired by photos and memoirs of the designer’s traits, her clothes emphasise the cheeky flair she had for her attitude to style. For one scene in the film, Coco attends a ball and causes a stir for her choice of attire, “all the women are dressed in pale colors, but Chanel is wearing black,” explains Leterrier. “It wasn’t that scandalous, but people would definitely talk about her.”
Leterrier’s greatest challenge for the film was making Coco “look great, but very poor”. An admirable feat for her to pull off, achieved through extensive research. “Over 200 costumes in the movie were originals. We went to fashion houses in England, France and Spain for the others,” says Leterrier.
“We wanted me to imagine how the world-famous Chanel bag originated, I drew a quilted sewing pouch in the shape of the bag, and had it made out of an old, black, flecked cotton canvas that peasants’ clothing used to be made of, as if the young Coco had made it out of a remnant given to her by her aunts.”
“The difficulty for me was to contrast the elegance of Chanel’s simple and fluid style with the fashion in 1900,” Leterrier explains. “I wanted to keep its beauty, with the blouses that enhanced the bust, the ribbons, lace, feathers and frills, whilst showing its excessive, showy and formal side so I could contrast it with Chanel’s pure, flowing lines.”
Chanel allowed original pieces from the archives to be used and Audrey wears a skirt suit and pearls from the 1960s. ‘We shot it in Coco’s actual apartment and the Chanel staff were there as the audience. It felt like a real show.’
With a meticulous attention to detail, Coco Before Chanel is one of the most accurate and entertaining biopics out there. If you haven’t seen it yet, we recommend you do…right now!
