Replica Bags Online Blog

The Chanel Set; Cheering a Classic to Aid the Cancer Society

Posted in Unspecified

Replica bags

If a blimp-sized magnet had passed over the Sheraton Washington around noon yesterday, hundreds of women would have been swooshed up by their gold-colored metal buttons into that great Chanel boutique in the sky. And if the magnet missed their double-C buttons, there were chain-handled quilted Chanel bags, leather-threaded chain belts, gold and chain earrings, or stone-embedded chain necklaces to enroll them in that most exclusive club of Chanel aficionados.

Yesterday's luncheon, for the benefit of the American Cancer Society, featured a fashion show of Chanel designs, fresh off the runway from the Paris collections this fall, designed by Karl Lagerfeld and presented by Garfinckels to about 1,000 women, their expensive chain mail shining and clinking.

That's not to say that even half the Chanel items were authentic, but the presence of knockoffs seemed to bother no one. (Probably few knew, anyway, that the way to tell the real Chanel from the frankly fake is by the way the double-C symbol interlocks on bag or buttons.)

The crowd was full of kudos for the Chanel style -- finagled with and updated but always identifiable since Lagerfeld took over the collection's design six years ago. Lagerfeld designs a collection under his own name in France, the Fendi collection in Rome, and a collection in Germany. When he first started at Chanel, he likened it to "playing another instrument."

But in fact few needed help identifying the true style originating with Coco Chanel and carried on by Lagerfeld and all the copyists. For benefit chairman Estelle Gelman, who was bedecked in the real goods, "Chanel was for me really the very very French fashion long before there were boutiques of others." The style, she said, "is elegant and ageless ... Like a Rolls-Royce, it doesn't change from year to year."

Such familiarity proved a problem when Gelman put down her bag at her luncheon place while checking on some details. "Suddenly I looked for my seat and there were Chanel bags on half the chairs. I almost couldn't find my own place," she laughed.

Barbara Dennis, who describes herself as "trying to be a writer," said she has been a Chanel fan since the age of 15 when she bought her first copy of a Chanel suit. "I would buy it today if I saw it again," said Dennis, who in fact was wearing an Adolfo copy of a Chanel suit with real Chanel jewelry and an authentic Chanel bag she has loved and carried for five years. ("Fortunately for me, Adolfo now fits me better," she laughed. Adolfo is less expensive.)

Potomac Falls housewife Nancy Schiattareggia was, literally, head-to-toe real Chanel, including a Chanel sailor hat specially ordered from Paris. "It's classic and I'm classic," she said. One digression from the Chanel paraphernalia was a diamond, ruby and sapphire American flag pin on her lapel. "It's from Cartier and it just seemed so right with this outfit," she said.

If they had only been available, undoubtedly more women would have been wearing the authentic Chanel bag, with the interlocking double-C clasp and in recent years the gold metal tassel on the zipper. In a season where clothes are generally so expensive, and criticized by many as not appealingly fresh, the Chanel accessories, particularly the Chanel bags at just under $ 1,000 each this year, are in hot demand and short supply. First introduced by Chanel in 1956 in wool jersey to match her suits, the bag has been a hit in the years since in quilted leather with chain shoulder strap. According to Madge Hurlbut, saleswoman in the Chanel accessory department at Garfinckels, there are 63 customers waiting for their Chanel bags to come in, not counting the 10 to 15 Japanese tourists who put their names on a list each week.

Bloomingdale's says it has more than 40 awaiting Chanel bags, and Saks-Jandel's Val Cook is slightly aghast that so many women have "become crazed and willing to stand in line for a $ 925 handbag."

Kitty d'Alessio, head of new ventures and special projects for Chanel, is pleased but not all that surprised. "This is the moment for investment shopping," she said, "but for the women who can't afford a suit this is like step number one, like a starter set." In addition, she said, the bag is commodious, suitable for both day and evening wear, and is a recognizable status piece.

02:25 - Wednesday, July 1, 2009 - comments {1} - post comment

Description
Replica Bags Online Blog

Home
User Profile
Archives
Friends
Free RSS Reader

Recent Entries
- The Chanel Set; Cheering a Classic to Aid the Cancer Society