Brand Evaluation

Chanel is a high fashion house that has been around since 1909, meaning that it has had 107 years to adapt and grow and gain its indisputably grandiose reputation. As years progress it follows the trends while maintaining its core values and style. This being that it is a feminine, high-class, timeless brand that will remain one of the biggest, most popular fashion houses in the world. Chanel will always keep the vision of Coco Chanel present, such as the fitted jackets, pearls and jewellery, and middle-class, mature clothing but often now merges it with 21st century trends and styles. The Spring/Summer 2016 collection was a perfect example of its merging with classic Coco Chanel style and more masculine, casual style that is more of a social norm in the 2016.

To keep on top of the competition and to stay current, Chanel has some of the best staff in the world who are completely competent in creating and reforming Chanel each season. The infamous Karl Lagerfeld has been with the fashion house for 33 years and plays a key role in being innovative, original and creative, which has got Chanel to where it is today. He maintains Chanel’s image but also pushes it beyond its boundaries.

The Chanel ethos in terms of packaging and retail is to give the consumers a plush experience that makes them feel satisfied when buying a Chanel product, which are more more expensive than high street products. Their packaging is sleek, of a rigid quality that is arranged in a fashion that looks as if it is a lavish gift. The thought that goes into this process is what keeps people loyal to the Chanel brand; they want to cater for the consumers that can afford to buy their products and make them feel exclusive.

The advertisements focus on stereotypical feminine beauty, which in turn prompts people to buy their products in order to achieve this look. To keep up with technological advancements, Chanel have brought their advertisements to the internet platform, and create makeup ‘tutorials’ which further broaden the opportunity for consumers to be interactive with their products. The Editorials are what Chanel use as a method of subverting their old fashioned stereotype, such as the S/S 2016 editorial that focused on rebellion, adventurousness and carelessness. The models that were used were not made to look stereotypically feminine or synonymous with the Chanel makeup adverts, but were more natural and less refined. This shows that Chanel intend to appeal to different audiences and broaden their range from just middle class, older women.

From this research, I was able to incorporate this into my understand of the brand, what its intentions and styles are and why. I feel that my catwalk, editorial and advertisement images all have different intentions and would appeal to different audiences. For my catwalk, I intended to create looks that were high fashion, refined and sophisticated with references to the airport theme of Chanel’s catwalk show. For my advertisement, I focused on beauty and setting the scene for the ‘LA Sunrise’, as seen in Chanel’s advertisement for the makeup collection. My editorial focuses on the location and moving past the neat, elegant look of Chanel with the theme of rebellion and being care-free which I deduced from the S/S 2016 editorials. This research into the brand enabled me to create looks and formulate shoots that I think are synonymous with the Chanel brand and their looks and intentions of each element.