Chanel Haute Couture Three Piece 1970s Suit

Detail: Iconic couture vintage Chanel three-piece suit. Multi-coloured open weave design on a cream base. Classic box jacket with four button fastening, and matching ornamental buttons to sleeve cuff. Patch pockets to front. Fully lined in silk. Signiture gold chain for extra weight. Gentle A-line skirt with silk waist-band; designed to be worn slightly below the natural waist-line. Ornamental bottons to front and small vent to hem. Zip and hook & eye fastening to back; fully lined. Sleeveless shirt with tie-neck feature and multi-coloured stitched design. Goldtone and mother of pearl buttons. The Chanel haute couture label was removed many years ago.

Period: 1972-3 - Acquired from the original commissioning Chanel client in the South of France

Colour: Cream with red, blue, green and mustard trim

Sizing: UK12. Jacket: Shoulders seam to seam 14". Sleeve shoulder seam to cuff 21.5". Bust 35. Length 25". Skirt: Waist 31". Length 25". Shirt: Bust 36". Length 20"

Fabric: Wool outer. Silk lining & shirt

Condition: Excellent. Minor stains to shirt armpits. We have specialist dry cleaned this suit twice. Minor stains to shirt have been reduced but not removed completely. The jacket and skirt are in near perfect condition.

Origin: France

Care: Specialist Dry Clean

Chanel Haute Couture Three Piece 1970s Suit.

Coco Chanel gave the world the little black dress, Chanel No. 5 perfume, and the revolutionary notion that style could be both classic and casual. Coco -- a nickname meaning "little pet" -- was raised in an orphanage, where she learned to sew. In 1910 she began selling hats from her own shop, and by the 1920s her fashion business had expanded to include a couture house, her own textile factory and a line of perfumes that included the famous No. 5. Chanel took women's fashions away from stiff corsets and introduced casual, practical clothing that borrowed fabrics and attitudes from men's fashion. She was the first to introduce black as a fashion color; her versatile, semi-formal "little black dress" became a Chanel trademark and an enduring fashion standard. During and after World War II Chanel's popularity waned, and her love affair with a Nazi officer sent her into a form of self-imposed exile in Switzerland for nearly 15 years. She made a comeback in 1954 and her designs became some of the most popular in the western world, especially in the United States. After her death the Coco Chanel Company was directed by designer Karl Lagerfeld.