I


t was Coco Chanel, of the eponymous braided, fringed tweed jackets offset with gorgeous gold buttons and


chains, who said: “Fashions change, style endures.” Using the best of materials,


coupled with immaculate tailoring, her classic style continues as a fashion staple – not least with the LBD (little black dress). Black, once a colour of mourning, became, under her influence, a staple of everyone’s wardrobe. Chanel introduced the idea of


casual chic, liberating women to be comfortable in their clothing. Even before the 1920s started to roar, she brought in simpler shapes, shorter skirts, blurring masculine/feminine codes of styling and tailoring, such as wide-leg trousers and pyjamas designed to wear both on the beach and in the evening for elegant soirées. Perhaps the most enduring


staple today, one in every woman’s wardrobe and most men’s, is the marinière jumper. It was over a century ago, in 1917, when she introduced the French matelot jersey


Rich fabric of life


as a wardrobe essential. Considered shocking at the time, today everyone from the Princess of Wales and Brigitte Bardot to Kate Middleton and Gwyneth Paltrow have been seen wearing this most comfortable and enduring of classics. Inspired by the striped jumpers worn by the French navy, these traditional jerseys are still produced in Finistère and Morbihan and promoted by the likes of Jean Paul Gautier, although his uses for matelot stripes are somewhat more outré it has to be said! While talking stripes, it would


be rude not to mention striped espadrilles. Traditionally canvas shoes with rope soles, the best are made with Basque linen and textiles from St-Jean-


48 FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: September/October 2023


de-Luz to Espelette – rainbows on your feet and so comfortable on hot summer days! France has always been


known for the quality of its fabric: the production of silk was first recorded in France in the 11th century. However, silkworm breeding and silk production started in earnest in the Cévennes in southern France by the end of the 13th century. In 1466, Louis XI decided to develop a national silk industry in Lyon to reduce France’s trade deficit with Italian states who were producing costly and luscious silk materials, the must-haves of their day for dedicated followers of fashion. By the 16th century, Lyon had become the capital of the


From denim to haute couture, Joanna Leggett hunts out the places fashion and fabrics helped to put on the French map


European silk trade abandoning Oriental designs to create their own distinctive French style emphasising landscapes – was this the birth of true French styling? By the early 19th century, the Napoleonic era gave new impetus to the silk business, as did the invention of the Jacquard loom where decorative patterns were introduced into cloth. For some reason I always


think of lace in conjunction with silk, and France produces some of the most exquisite. In Alençon, production began in the 16th century; once again the French king stepped in to create local industry and reduce the court’s dependence upon costly foreign imports. Alençon became known as


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