Exhibition honors iconic French designer who set the scene

The ongoing exhibition Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto at the Power Station of Art in Shanghai is the first retrospective devoted to the work of the fashion icon held in China.

Held from July 12 to Nov 24, the exhibition is co-organized by the PSA and the Palais Galliera, the Fashion Museum of Paris, Paris Musees in France, exploring "the long career of this trailblazing designer that changed the course of fashion twice in a lifetime," says curator Miren Arzalluz at a forum at the PSA held before the opening.

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (1883-1971) was a French fashion designer, businessperson and founder of the Chanel luxury brand.

In the early 20th century, a time when decorative styles dominated the world of Western women's fashion, "Gabrielle Chanel created garments characterized by minimalism and precision … She revolutionized the world of haute couture, liberating the bodies of her contemporaries with what amounted to a fashion manifesto," according to Arzalluz.

More than 200 objects were selected from the collections of Palais Galliera and Patrimoine de Chanel, as well as from international museums.

The exhibition was originally held at the Palais Galliera in Paris from Oct 1, 2020 to July 18, 2021.

It was the first retrospective ever dedicated to the French designer in Paris, Arzalluz says. It was also the inaugural exhibition of a renovated and extended Palais Galliera, which included a new gallery.

The exhibition was then adapted and presented in Melbourne, Tokyo and London.