Chanel Quotes

Be classy. Anything but trashy.

Coco Chanel used to talk about wearing more than one string of pearls. Why wear one if you can wear two, or something to that effect. I think that one string of pearls is just fine. But that's because my pearls are black, hers were white.

Stuff your brain with knowledge.

If you stick to something doggedly, you are off to a bad start.

How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.

As she looked in the full-length mirror in her dressing room, she added a few ropes of pearls, pinned a white silk camellia, and draped the Chantilly lace shawl. In that moment, Dana thought of fashion's most enduring icon who created this elegant and alluring style, and the happy personal life that eluded her. Mademoiselle Chanel died in 1971 at the age of eighty-eight while working on her spring collection, but her passion for work did not fill the void of marriage and children. Her success was costly, but clearly the choice of an uncompromising woman determined to achieve greatness on her own. Chanel once said, "I never wanted to weigh more heavily on a man than a bird." Quote from "A very Good Life.

Fashion is neither moral or immoral, but it is for rebuilding the morale.

Fashion is ephemeral, dangerous and unfair.

Today, Chanel sells nothing other than its griffe; the griffe is an absolute symbol for 'fashion' which, having become historical, is now able to sell this history better than it could sell fashion. Chanel's lasting success proves that fashion has become self-referential: the fetish of the mere name shows how it has begun to revolve around itself. The House of Chanel produces what Coco most abhorred: a thing of the past, dead. The visible, outwardly displayed griffe has become the opposite of individualized style: instead it confirms the latent uniform collectivity, which had always defined Chanel-wear; in the end, it signifies membership of an expensive club. The Chanel woman does not want to display her own taste, she wants to belong. In order to be certain, she is laden with Chanel signs and accessories, like amulets to protect against the evil eye; on the pocket, on the belt, on the dress buttons, on the watch, on costume jewelry, proudly stand the initials of the founder of the house, to which she knows she belongs.

For me, Chanel is like music. There are certain notes and you have to make another tune with them

Chanel is an institution, and you have to treat an institution like a whore – and then you get something out of her

Like poetry, fashion does not state anything. It merely suggests

The secret to modeling is not being perfect. What one needs is a face that people can identify in a second. You have to be given what’s needed by nature, and what’s needed is to bring something new.

Fashion is about going ahead, not about memory.

I would like to be a one-man multinational fashion phenomenon.

A respectable appearance is sufficient to make people more interested in your soul

If you don't smell good, then you don't look good.

Elegance comes from being as beautiful inside as outside.

Fashion is about two things: the evolution and the opposite.

I’m very much down to earth, just not this earth.

Fashion does not have to prove that it is serious. It is the proof that intelligent frivolity can be something creative and positive

One is never over-dressed or underdressed with a Little Black Dress.

Success nullifies. You then have to do it again, preferably differently

Buy what you don’t have yet, or what you really want, which can be mixed with what you already own. Buy only because something excites you, not just for the simple act of shopping.

Fashion is a language that creates itself in clothes to interpret reality.

I had an interview once with some German journalist—some horrible, ugly woman. It was in the early days after the communists—maybe a week after—and she wore a yellow sweater that was kind of see-through. She had huge tits and a huge black bra, and she said to me, ‘It’s impolite; remove your glasses.’ I said, ‘Do I ask you to remove your bra?

I want everyone to wear what they want and mix it in their own way. That, to me, is what is modern.

The French say you get hungry when you’re eating, and I get inspired when I’m working. It’s my engine

In a meat-eating world, wearing leather for shoes and even clothes, the discussion of fur is childish.

Saint Laurent has excellent taste. The more he copies me, the better taste he displays. - Coco Chanel

Where should one use perfume?" a young woman asked. "Wherever one wants to be kissed.