CHANEL AND HER LOVE OF TWEED

Chanel in Tweed (source unknown)

Tweed has been in fashion on and off since the 1920s, and there is nothing quite as iconic as a classic Chanel tweed piece.

Coco Chanel discovered tweed during her love affair with the Duke of Westminster in the 1920s.  Much of their time was spent in the Sutherland region of the Scottish Highlands on both the Duke's 123,000-acre estate, Reay Forest, and those of neighbouring lairds.  They would fish, hunt and play cards, often with Winston Churchill as their companion.  Chanel loved the country life and would often borrow and wear items from the Duke’s wardrobe, adapting them for herself during her lengthy sporting expeditions in the Highlands where she learned to fish.   Chanel realised the comfortable, supple fabric had a stylish quality that would lend itself well to her designs. In 1924, Chanel asked a Scottish factory to produce her tweed fabrics for everything from sportswear to suits and coats.  She was inspired by colours form the Scottish countryside, and often brought back leaves, moss, and even  bits of earth to her manufacturers for them to match.

The tweed trend spread fast, and the look quickly became popular throughout couture houses in Paris.

Chanel switched factories to northern France in the 1930s and began combining her classic tweeds with wools, silks, cottons, to give them a more high fashion, and lighter weight style.

Today, tweed remains a strong part of the Chanel story and also features strongly in Burberry and Dior collections, where this traditional fabric is continued to be worked in a modern way.