Tulle!

(Chanel, Marchesa & Valentino ss12. Images via style.com)
Layered beautifully on ivory wedding dresses or floating gently on free flowing tutu’s, tulle is one of the most beautiful fabrics to represent wealth, elegance and culture. Named after the city of Tulle in France, it was created in the 1700’s, and manufactured of hexagonal mesh which resembled a honeycomb pattern. Tulle became synonymous with wedding dresses due to Queen Victoria, when Her Royal Highness wore a filmy off-the-shoulder tulle wedding gown in 1840, making it instantly popular and creating a trend that has flourished over 100 years. Courtier Fredrich Worth modified the tulle trend by showing it’s versatility through a tulle hat in the 19th century and Swedish ballerina Marie Taglioni popularized tulle in ballet by wearing a bell shaped tutu made of gauzy layered tulle in productions such as La Sylphide. Today, tulle remains a sort after fabric, whether in the form of a white tulle dress, with swan draped across your neck ( à la Bjork), or in an oscar-worthy dramatic gown with a tulle full skirt and embellished bodice- either way tulle proves to be a versatile fabric with an air of romanticism,beauty and elegance which remains timeless.

Chanel Installation at Harrods

After attending the first day of London Fashion Week, I finally decided to visit the Chanel installation at Harrods department store in Knightsbridge- which was brilliant! There was so much that I didn't know about Coco Chanel and the Chanel brand which were bought to my attention through eight rooms which focused on a specific aspect of Chanel. Unfortunatley, pictures weren't allowed to be taken during the mini tour, so I'll just let you in on a few details ;)

• Karl Lagerfeld was massively inspired by the idea of goth's and androgyny for the autumn/winter 2011 collection and installation, as well as dreams of beauty and the beast.
• The Installation cost a whopping £4 million to create and is one of the most popular installations to have been created at Harrods (no surprise there!)
• Camilla flowers have always been a pinnacle symbol for the Chanel brand, and represent Chanel's true love, Boy Capel. The Camilla's are worn by all Chanel members and employees to represent their love and respect for Coco's true love 
• Another room in the installation was dedicated to the iconic Chanel 2.55 bag, and described the creation and structure of the coveted handbag.
• The third room was a Chanel 'nursery' which had similar styles at Coco Chanel's home in Paris.
• The forth room was the 'Two-tone' room with a monocratic theme created through Chanel's famous two tone shoes. Coco created the black cap to create an illusion of being a smaller size, whereas the beige was to elongate the foot.
• The fifth room was my absolute favourite, as it was the couture room. Being so close to Chanel Haute Couture, and seeing the intricate detailing and feeling of the fabric was an amazing experience. The pieces in the couture room included a red beaded dress from Chanel's a/w 2010 couture collection (worn by Blake Lively) and a Chanel couture wedding dress. 
• The wallpaper from the couture room is the same as the one at Coco Chanel's home

I could go on and on about how amazing this installation was, but the idea was to give a short overview of the installation if you didn't have the opportunity to go! :)