"I love hay"
I was browsing my usual blogs and read a story about Elle Fanning's first runway show: Chanel Haute Couture. Did you know she's only thirteen? Cue jealousy... When a Vogue reporter asked her what had most struck her about the show, she mentioned a "really really old lady" she met backstage, who helps make the incredible couture gowns. In my mind I pictured someone entirely different than the old lady pictured above. Her name is Mademoiselle Pouzieux, and she makes braids by hand. She is the ONLY one who can make the braids Chanel uses in their couture. She doesn't have any fancy schooling, nor a fancy studio. It's just her on her farm with her horses, her hay and her loom. Many have tried to learn her craft but so far, no one has succeeded. It's interesting to see the story behind the making of clothes so beautiful, the effort and pain the seamstresses have to go through to make these works of art come alive (M. Pouzieux's hands are full of arthritis and her back is hunched from braiding). She is an example of why I love fashion so much: it goes beyond the utility of the clothes and high prices, it's about the heart and passion so many people put into each garment.
Chanel Haute Couture Fall 2011
You can watch M. Pouzieux and all of the effort that goes into making couture gowns on the french documentary Signe Chanel, a behind-the-scenes of the making of a Chanel Couture Fall '04 Collection (link here).
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