Actualisation of a dream.....

 Paris December 2011, I had a moment………After visiting Chanel’s first boutique, on Rue Cambon, and buying myself a Christmas present of Chanel No. 5 (showing discipline through the temptation of the bags and sunglasses I opted to keep my present classic and simple- Chanel summarised) …… I had an aah haa moment. I stood at the bottom of the stairs of Chanel. Stairs that I have seen photographed repeatedly through my reading and discovering of Coco Chanel.
The staff were amazingly accommodating to me after I enquired about the infamous staircase, I think they were intrigued that I asked, that I knew of it. A security guard kindly took me to a secured/private entrance which revealed the mirrored staircase, I was mesmorised and felt inspired and overwhelmed by the idea that I was in the same staircase that Chanel sat on many times during her years designing. Every fashion show she secretly observed, from the top of the staircase through the fragmented mirrors, the reactions of her guests. I tentatively asked to take a photo, thinking I would be immediately dismissed but to my pleasure and surprise I was allowed, the security guard even offering to take a photo of me. I was in heaven and walking on clouds.
Chanel has always intrigued me as a woman and a designer, as a progressive thinker and a boundary pusher. I have always admired Chanel’s tenacity and audacious manner in her approach to life and her aspirations. She was proudly opinionated and unbelievably driven in a time when women were taking their first steps of independence, it can be fairly said she even pathed a path in the revolution of woman's wear  .
I had been to Paris before and I have thoroughly enjoyed both visits, however I would have to say my moment at Chanel was a real epiphany of what is possible if you believe in yourself and push yourself against the drudgery of what life can be. I will always be intrigued by the enigma of Coco Chanel and the legacy she has left behind. I admire and respect her as a woman and a designer. She is one woman I would certainly love to sit and have a deep conversation with if time travel were ever possible…….

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