Celebrating The Life Of An Icon – Happy Birthday Co Co Chanel

Today is the birthday of my favourite designer Co Co Chanel, she was sassy, fierce and in general a bad ass bitch. She made some fabulous clothes, timeless accessories and was all about girl power!

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Last year i visited the Saatchi Gallery to see their exhibition all about Chanel and her life’s work titled Mademoiselle Privee. It was beautiful, insightful and only made me love her more. She is a true inspiration and achieved so much while remaining true to her vision and who she was every step of the way.

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After starting as a hat designer she went on to change the fashion industry for the better and always looked to empower women with her fragrance’s, clothes and accessories. Today her bags remain my favourite and the day I wear a Classic Chanel Jacket with a Medium Double Flap 2.55 my life will be complete.

Here are some facts about the amazing Co Co Chanel in honour of her birthday.

 

  • She was born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel on August 19, 1883 in Saumur, France. CoCo regularly claimed she was actually born 10 years after that date.
  • Co Co Chanel’s life did not start out glamorous, after her mother’s death she was placed in an orphanage by her farther and raised by Nun’s who taught her to sew. This time in her life is part of the inspiration behind the iconic 2.55.
  • Chanel was a singer for a brief amount of time in Cafe’s. It is claimed her nick name was given to her by the soldiers she sang for because of two of the songs she regularly sang. Chanel claims that her nick name CoCo comes from a shortened version of “cocotte”, the French word for kept woman.
  •  Although CoCo Chanel regularly had a man by her side she never married and was a fierce independent woman claiming “I never wanted to weigh more heavily on a man than a bird.” After meeting the duke of Westminster aboard his yacht around 1923, the two started a relationship that would last ten years. But in response to his marriage proposal, she is rumoured to have said “Everyone marries the Duke of Westminster. There are a lot of duchesses, but only one Coco Chanel!”
  •  She loved to see women succeed in business and it is claimed she designed the famous ‘Chanel suit’ for women to encourage women to pursue their professional goals in style. In 1938 she retired from the fashion business with a string of success behind her. However, 16 years later she made a determined comeback. It is claimed she did this as she was “fed up” at seeing French fashion becoming dominated by men.
  • Not only did she create the ultimate women’s suit she also was the creator of the LBD in 1926, changing women’s fashion for ever.

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Happy Birthday to this amazing woman!!!

Love Lottie xxx

 

Girls Night Out

I spent most of April and May planning an event for Handbag Clinic. We teamed up with Capital Radio North East to run a competition to win a Mulberry Handbag worth over £1000. The final of the competition was to be held in Aveika, an amazing bar/restaurant serving Japanese food under an impressive chandler. To host the evening we had Scarlett Moffatt, originally being introduced to the public eye on Goggle Box but now also an Author and Radio Presenter.

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Out of the 487 competition entrants 50 were selected to attend the event with a guest. Aveika kindly provided canapés and cocktails for our VIP competition winners, Capital FM were handling to competition and I handled everything fashion!

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I secured Novo London to provide the clothing, their stylish structured designs were perfect to team with Handbag Clinic’s fabulous bags. I selected our most impressive pieces to take part in the event including this python skin, electric blue Celine Phantom.

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Models…I needed models!!! Luckily my Facebook and phonebook is filled with models I have worked with in the past. They were all willing to help and I also organised for them to be glammed up for the evening by Glam Squad Express, a new salon providing a day to night turn around in record time!

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The night came, Aveika was already busy with people sipping their 2-4-1 cocktails and securing their seats for the evenings entertainment. I mainly ran round like crazy making sure everyone was happy and everything went as planned. Our pop up was set up and ran by the Newcastle Store staff, the models were upstairs practicing their strut and Capital FM were at the door greeting people and snapping pics with our big pink bag.

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Soon the time came for the entertainment, my girls strutted their hearts out and looked amazing. Walking to 6 inch by Beyoncé they owned the runway and looked fabulous in their outfits complete with designer accessories. 

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Next up was the competition, Scarlett selected two names out of a jar at random and two excited handbag lovers headed to the stage. The pair of lucky ladies were told three bags modelled by our models were £3075 if they were to be purchased in a department store and they had to guess how much the three bags would be if they bought them from Handbag Clinic. The girls examined the bags and jotted down some workings out but before they knew it time was up and their answers had to be collected. Scarlett took the mic and announced the closest to the bag was….Lisa Guthrie, who immediately started jumping up and down celebrating her win. The disappointed runner up was soon cheered up by being told she had won a makeover by Glam Squad Express for being runner up.

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The next day a blog caught my eye, www.triedandtesteduk.co.uk. Our winner was a successful blogger and had wrote a lovely piece about her experience. Check it out.

Love Lottie xx

Crazy about CoCo

Calling all Handbag Lovers,

This week I’ve planned a Social Media event for Handbag Clinic all about Chanel. Chanel will always be my absolute favourite. I dream of the day when I buy my first Chanel Double Flap Classic that’s actually for me.

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I authenticate Chanel’s on a daily basis and it never gets boring. Call me dull but I love the fact I know which brand of press stud should be on a 1988 Chanel classic or how many stitches per inch that iconic quilted pattern should have. Each bag is made to the highest standard and every element of a modern day of the classic 2.55 relates back to Mademoiselle Privé’s original design from February 1955!

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I’ve saved these little beauties for the event, which will be available to purchase from today in Handbag Clinic stores.

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Contact details of the stores can be found at https://www.handbagclinic.co.uk/ or you can follow us on Facebook or Instagram, @handbagclinic .
If you love Chanel or any other brands and want more information leave a comment and I will happily write something up!
Love Lottie xxx