Marlene Deitrich

Marlene Deitrich was very of the moment and influenced fashion profoundly and directly - it was Marlene Deitrich who bravely wore men's clothes at a time when such things weren't done - her trousers, hats and canes gaining her a no-entry status at some exclusive Parisian Hotels in the 1930's.

Top fashion designers like Dior created clothes for her, but it was Deitrich who breathed life into them and made them famous - she made them her own, standing up to 10 hours in garments while tailors improved them at her direction. Glamour, shock, provocation, elegance, are some of the words that best describe this distinct Marlene Deitrich style, she was most definitely ahead of her time - the word glamorous may well have been invented for her - and served as an inspiration for a generation of fahion designers. Marlene Deitrich's man-style pantsuit being picked up by Yves-Saint Laurent and at least one suit being in most women's wardrobes today.

Maria Riva, Marlene's daughter revealed after her death that she often spoke of herself in the third person, saying things like "Oh, Dietrich would never wear
that hat" or "That is how Dietrich would do it". She worked hard to cultivate that aura of perfection and glamour, playing a constant part whenever she was in the public eye.

Marlene Deitrich had the ability to look absolutely glamorous in either a shining gown or a full male formal dress, she was both a prima donna full of attitude and an extremely hard working and disciplined person on set. Though she remained married to Rudolph Sieber her entire life, the stories of her legions of lovers are legendary. You could think of her as just another Hollywood star, but she also spent several years during World War 2 in great danger in Africa and Europe entertaining the Allied troops extremely close to the front

Gucci

Italy has a long tradition as a centre of fashion and this story is about it's most famous fashion house, Gucci.

Guccio Gucci developed a taste for beauty and elegance as a young man working as a lift attendant in London's opulent Savoy Hotel. In 1921 he returned to Florence and opened his first shop selling luggage and saddlery and a small workshop that handcrafted them. Guccio along with his wife Aida had five sons and one daughter, who all helped in the early days of the family business, delivering orders to customers by bicycle. Looking to expand the business, they moved to a larger space in 1937 and started to produce their famous handbags using the iconic bit and stirrups which were derived from the company's origins and denoted the sophistication of the product and had come to represent Gucci's success.

1938 saw the empire grow with the opening of a store in Rome on the prestigious Via Condotti. Under the limitations of the fascist dictatorship imagination compensated for the shortage of raw materials as Guccio discovered the potential of hemp, linen, jute and of course, what became the signature bamboo handle. The company grew and became known all over Italy and after the Second World War Gucci stores opened in America and Japan. People all over the world wanted a slice of Italian style that was new and creative. The fortunes of the Gucci empire took many turns as Guccio's sons often had different ideas and couldn't agree. One set up a store selling only cheaper products, while another left and started a rival company. One went to jail for tax evasion, and Maurizio, the very last Gucci to work in the business was murdered in 1995.

Many big fashion houses changed in the 1990's, and once the last Gucci was out of the picture, the new president Domenico Del Sol knew what the problems were, stores that looked tired and too many cheap products.

Gucci products, he thought, must be luxury items and exclusive to the rich and famous. Texan designer Tom Ford has made Gucci into the world's hottest fashion brand. With journalists fighting for front row seats, not to mention famous customers including Grace Kelly, Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren, as well as today's famous shoppers such as Kate Moss, Victoria Beckham and Catherine Zeta Jones, Gucci continues to make waves.

A two year legal battle between two French companies for the control of Gucci, spending millions of dollars in what became known as "the battle of the handbags", and Stella McCartney being offered her own label, which some people thought hypocritical, as she has campaigned for animal rights, and her mother being famous , not just as Mrs.Paul McCartney, but for her campaigns for animal rights as well as her "vegetarian only" food company. Stella said, however, that she would not use fur or leather in her Gucci label. Still, the fact remains, Gucci makes most of their money from leather and fur goods.

Film director Martin Scoresese is planning a movie about the colourful Gucci history, it's sure to be full of murder, madness and glamour. That's very much the House of Gucci!

Coco Chanel

Designer Coco Chanel born August 19, 1883 in the French village of Saumur.
1909, opens first shop , a millinery , in Paris.
1910, moves to Rue Cambon, where the House of Chanel remains today.
1939, closes her fashion house when France Declares war on Germany.
1945, Exiled to Switzerland for her love affair with a Nazi officer.
1954, launches her successful comeback.
1971, dies January 10, in Paris.

Many things have been said of Coco Chanel, that she was shrewd, that she wasn't just ahead of her time but ahead of herself. That she was chic and very cutting edge, determined to break away from tried formulas and find new ways of expressing herself. But for me she is total inspiration the way seventy-five years later we see her influences in contemporary fashion designers that are as different from each other as Donatella Versace, Helmut Lang, Tom Ford and Miuccia Prada.

It was Coco Chanel that originally mixed the boundaries of male and female clothes and created fashion that offered the wearer a feeling of hidden luxury rather than ostentation as well as making sports clothes fashionable.

Coco Chanel began her fashion revolution making hats, her boyish flapper creations caused a stir as Belle Epoque millinery was very in vogue at this time.
Arthur Capel, who is said to be the love of her life, backed her move from hats to clothes, and to the coastal resorts of Deauville and Biarritz. One of her first triumphs was a loose fitting sweater, which was belted at the waist and teamed with a skirt - still worn today by thousands of women all over the world as the trend appears and reappears. These early directions come from clothes she made for herself out of fabric usually associated with men's clothing such as Jersey ties and sports jackets. Throughout the twenties Coco Chanel's eminence grew to the status of a legend, by the early thirties she had been courted by Hollywood, and almost married one of Europe's richest men, the Duke of Westminster. Her explanation for refusal being that "there have been several Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Chanel!"

Coco Chanel's work covered so many different lasting styles. everything from gypsy skirts to glittering eveningwear . Of course the Jersey suits and little black dresses are legendary, but the single thing that ensured Coco her remembrance was that Art Deco bottle of Chanel No.5 which was launched in 1923. It was the first perfume to bear a designer's name.

World War 2 saw her fashion business shutting down and her affair with Hans Gunther Von Dincklage, a Nazi officer, seriously taking the sparkle out of her reputation. When she decided to make a comeback in 1954, her name was still somewhat sullied but return she did, and this time around the Chanel suit made a sensational comeback.

Karl Largerfield, who designs Chanel today attributes the return success of the Chanel suit to the fact that by the fifties she had the benefit of distance and could truly distil the Chanel look. Some have said that it was because of poor perfume sales and her disgust at the fashions at the time or simply boredom but Coco Chanel was a genius, always wanting to be different and independent.

Her sharp mind evident in everything she did, from savvy use of logos
to her intuned use of personality and packaging. Coco Chanel once said
"Fashion is not simply a matter of clothes. Fashion is in the air, born on the wind. One intuits it. It is in the sky and on the road."