There’s something to say about American culture when it comes to designer goods and fashion. Fashion as a whole encompasses so much passion and art, with a lengthy history and widespread impact.
When the Oscars happen or the time comes around for the Met Gala, everyone’s timelines are filled with red carpet photo ops and interviews. When Fashion Week debuts and the catwalk is filled with beautiful models in beautiful clothes, everyone is happy or at least entertained by the show.
Like any art form, fashion has the potential to be incredibly diverse and creative. Many artists choose to express themselves through the craft by creating stunning garments or being able to alter material to fit what they want. But just like in any art form, there are pockets of bad people that threaten to harm that process.
Not every luxury brand has a dark and menacing backstory. There are plenty of iconic brands that were built off hard work of good people. But when money is involved, sometimes people take a bad path.
A lot of luxury brands have a thick history with lots of twists and turns, but Chanel’s backstory gets lost a little to time. When you’re purchasing the iconic Chanel Number 5 perfume or buying a new fancy watch, they don’t offer you the information that Chanel herself was entertaining a relationship with her Nazi boyfriend and sold out her Jewish business partner.
Not ‘Nazi’ like in the modern internet terms like being a feminazi or a grammar nazi, but actual Nazis. Black suit, armband, made by Hugo Boss during the regime, Nazi. PBS writes this, “Chanel, spending time with her new lover often meant rubbing shoulders with other senior officials, and the designer quickly entered a social circle of powerful Nazis.”
Now, it has been almost 100 years sense Chanel had spent her days as a fashion designer. She spent her off time at the Ritz. She toasted to better days of people like her. While she shmoozed it up with military officials and first ladies, families were being separated and tortured to death. She was networking.
The brand itself has achieved so much after the affiliation to these bad guys. A lot of people that weren’t Chanel herself made the brand what it is today. There are historic fashion moments tied to the name that Chanel couldn’t have dreamed up achieving.
So I should let it go.
But I see people carrying the bags and I can’t make it through a Hobby Lobby without seeing Chanel.
I can’t watch updates in fashion without Hugo Boss’s and Chanel’s influence shining through. I can’t help but think how people were stripped naked and murdered for having the audacity to exist and aren’t here, but these brands are. Storefronts lived on when people didn’t. High fashion lived. People didn’t.
Chanel isn’t the only brand with a dark backstory. There is no ethical consumption of any goods anymore, especially in the space of luxury handbags and accessories. But to have Chanel embroidered into American culture with her being pro-Nazi feels unjust.
Being a Nazi or a Nazi supporter is the most anti-American thing one can be. I wonder how many people would simply choose a different brand of bag to buy if they knew.
Try to research big fashion staples before purchasing. There’s plenty of brands that are anti-fascist, anti-animal cruelty, anti-racist, and there are plenty of brands that aren’t. There are plenty of people to support in this industry that deserve to have their work displayed and shared, and plenty who don’t.
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