MammaFiglia Blog

‘IT’ Bags in Focus – The Chanel 2.55

22nd July, 2009 - Posted by admin - No Comments

There are handbags and then there are handbags. And then there’s Chanel. The Chanel 2.55, to be more specific.  From the ever expanding brigade of young and precocious fashionista bloggers and their swelling coterie of online fans, to the more established style mavens, stylistas and your every day fashion hags, the Chanel 2.55 invokes delight on every front. It is a classic in every sense of the word. In fact, you could even say that it is the classic handbag. The 2.55 is in the covetable position of being one of the most influential fashion icons history has seen. This divine piece of work, with its oh-so-classy flap over and indispensible chain strap, was designed and conceived by Ms. Gabrielle Bonheur ‘Coco’ Chanel herself.

For those who don’t know the glorious history of this timeless fashion accessory, here’s a short run down of the life and times of the Chanel 2.55 handbag. It all started out when young Coco Chanel was growing up, a child of a travelling salesman named Albert Chanel and his wife Jeanne Devolle. Her mother took Coco out as she went shopping for clothes at various tailors around the city. This is where the young girl’s love of all things sartorial began. Unfortunately, when she was still quite young, Coco’s mother died of tuberculosis; the fateful event left Coco and her siblings in the care of their father. A few short months following the death of his wife, their father, Albert, left to work and provide for the children, leaving Coco and co. to fend for themselves in an orphanage. There, it is said that the girl withdrew into herself, drawing pictures; however, it is in the orphanage where the young Coco learned the art of sewing.

Coco’s time in the orphanage had a huge impact in her later work. The double chain shoulder strap affixed to the 2.55 is taken from the key chains that the orphanage caretakers would wear dangling around their waists. The inside lining is colored brown to represent the convent uniforms Coco had to wear while she was growing up. However, more than just Ms. Chanel’s fantastic childhood inspired the bag. The inside of the front flap contains a secret compartment where Coco surreptitiously stashed her love letters from one Hans Gunther von Dincklage, a purported Nazi spy who arranged for Coco to bed up at the Ritz Hotel during the war; she would call the Ritz her home for more than thirty years, even during the Nazi occupation of Paris. Perhaps, her war time experience swayed her to create another clandestine compartment within the 2.55. There is a secret pocket in the back of the bag, located on the outside flap; here is where Coco would hide a little bit of extra money, just in case. The quilted material from which the 2.55 is made was inspired by the coats worn by horse racing jockeys. The interlocking CC clasp on the front of the bag is called the Mademoiselle lock, as Coco never married.

While the name of the bag sounds eerily zeitgeisty, especially in these wired web 2.0 years, it is actually nothing more than a simple date. The two is for the month of February, and the 55 stands for the year 1955; what you have is the date the bag was first released. Coco designed the bag for her own use, so some of its features were avante garde for the time. Take the double chain interwoven with leather strap; up market handbags of the era weren’t so practically equipped; however, Coco wanted to keep her hands free, to be able to hold a glass of champagne, perhaps. Whatever the case, Ms. Chanel saw nothing unfeminine about being able to use one’s hands, challenging the notions of the day & pioneering shoulder handbag styles for the future.

The bag was reissued in the fall of 2005. The new version is slightly updated with fresher, more modern material; also has done away with classic version’s CC Mademoiselle clasp and replaced it with a rectangular turn lock. The bags released in 2005 are called Reissues. There are other similar 2.55 style bags labeled as Classic Flaps. Classic Flap sizes are different than the Reissues, but it is quite easy to confuse the two if you’re not an expert. The Reissues themselves are exactly like the original 2.55 design except for the clasp. Also, Reissues have an all chain strap, whereas the classic version has an interwoven leather and metal strap. Reissues, moreover, have a double inside flat. The Chanel Classic Flap bag comes in three sizes and ranges in price from about $1500 to $2000. The Reissue comes in various sizes and is pricier.

Whether its slung over a thin, gauzy black dress hugging a gamine frame, or whether hanging lightly from a thin shoulder whose owner is decked out in long, ripped jeans, an oversized boys t-shirt with the words heaven and hell etched out in thick, inky sharpie pen scrawls and a layer of silk and cotton kuffiyeh scarves wrapped biliously around the neck in premium boho style (can we say Olsen or Mischa), this bag simply works. It’s classic, it’s edgy. It is what you want it to be. The Chanel 2.55 is a girl’s best friend. The hefty price tag is well worth it. The 2.55 is eternal. It comes in a variety of different shades, from luscious red to deep, jet black.

Unsurprisingly, the bag is a favorite of many young Hollywood starlets.  The list includes Blake Lively of Gossip Girl, whose character Serena Van der Woodsen, incidentally has a few 2.55s herself, Paris Hilton and best pal Nicole Richie, Clemence Poesy and her Potter costar Emma Watson, vampire lover Kirsten Stewart, fashionista and one time OC star Mischa Barton, who has a few, La Lohan, and Kim Kardashian, among others.

The bag is more popular today than it was when it first came out, way back in ’55. And rightly so. The 2.55 is a timeless classic. It’s understated, yet elegant and refined. It’s practical yet sophisticated. A must have, if you can afford it.

For those of you who are true Chanel fans, as a treat, here is the trailer for Coco Avant Chanel released in the UK in just over a week’s time, starring the gorgeous Audrey Tautou as Coco herself.