In the post-WWII frenzy, stylist Gabrielle Chanel decided to revolutionize women’s fashion. Throughout her long line of lovers, throughout her travels, her encounters, and her hobbies, Coco never ceased to observe, to analyze, and to visually dissect the aesthetics and components of the clothing she saw. The story of the two-tone shoe begins on the Duke of Westminster’s yacht. The visionary’s keen eye retained the shoes worn by the men there: natural fabric and black leather points. She also took away a bit of amusement from the thick-soled black-tipped sandals nonchalantly thrown over the shoulder of her friend, dancer and choreographer Serge Lifar. In those days sporting activities were performed in beige canvas shoes with a black leather tip, in order to better dissimulate potential stains. And this is where Chanel got the aesthetics for her next icon. 1957/ loyal to her vision of an elegant, sleek, and distinguished gem what with its freedom of movement, Mademoiselle Chanel got the inspiration to concoct an open-toed shoe, beige with a black tip, edged with a thin elastic strap on the side. Bye bye buckles! For the very first time, an elastic strap supported the heel. And this is where one of the greatest technical innovations in the history of shoemaking resides. But Chanel was first and foremost an artist – a clothing virtuoso. By banking on two-tone, it was also a way to compose the silhouette in a different way. The slightly squared black tip shortens the foot, while the beige melts into the ensemble and elongates the leg.
Since « a well dressed woman is never ugly », with just this one pair, Gabrielle Chanel was sure to respond to the demands of the most elegant, at any hour, day or night. The couturière wanted her shoe to be comfortable and perfectly adapted to the new lifestyle of the modern woman. Raymond Massaro and his father, shoemakers that were drawn to the Chanel brand, therefore conceived an asymmetrical sandal where the flange only sustains the outer part of the foot to leave it maximum freedom. Running, dancing, jumping into the city with newly-found ease was now possible thanks to the elastic tension on the back of the heel, adapted to any and every movement. As Raymond Massaro maliciously recalls : « the worst thing that can happen is for a woman to be angry with her shoemaker during a night out. » The two-tone shoe was made to avoid embarrassment, composed around a graphic aesthetic that was full of common sense, the icon is a definitive label of « Massaro for Chanel ».
Two-Tone Shoe by Chanel: Key Dates
Fall-Winter 2017-2018 Parade: the two-tone boot version is all sequin for this new season inspired by the stratosphere and all that touches on the future .
Pre-collection Fall-Winter 2017-2018: the two-colored boots are cut in a colored suede declined in beige, gray, black, green duck, blue or red.
Spring-Summer 2017: the two-tone ballerina becomes futuristic with its silver color and always with a black tip.
Collection Fall-Winter 2015-2016: the fashion house sign 4 videos on the art of wearing the famous shoe named “slingback“. This is the big comeback of “the beige and black” since Karl Lagerfeld has put on all his parade ready to wear the same unique pair.
Spring-Summer 2015: Ready-to-wear collection, the two-tone is reinvented in gold and black leather derbies.
2014-2015: Collection of Arts and Crafts Paris Salzburg, the two colors are declined in boots laced to the Austrian.
Spring-Summer 2013: Haute Couture Chanel presents a new version of two-tone shoes this time in thigh. The accessory collection presents us with graphic style shoes and acid colors.
2012: Poppy Delevingne appears at the Chanel fashion show cruising two-tone ballet flats.
January 2012: Rachel Bilson attends a Chanel evening wearing two-tone black shoes with beige tips.
2011-2012: Paris-Bombay Arts and Crafts Collection , the two-tone is being revamped in the form of thigh-high leggings.
March 2011: Chanel muse Keira Knightley wears a two-tone biker style boot during the Coco Mademoiselle perfume advertising campaign.
Fall-Winter 2009-2010: Haute Couture Chanel unveils slingbacks that look like Mary-Jane laced.
September 2006: Lindsay Lohan wears two-tone shoes in an original cross-strap version.
February 2005: Vanessa Paradis wears the slingback on the red carpet for the Screen Actors Guild Awards evening.
Fall-Winter 1986-87: in the Haute Couture fashion show, models can wear two-tone models from head to toe.
Autumn-Winter Collection 1983-1984: first collection of Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel in which he gives an important place to two-tone shoes with Inès de la Fressange.
1962: Romy Schneider who was a great admirer of Chanel and her two-tone shoes.
1960: the French actress Jeanne Moreau meets Mademoiselle rue Cambon floor famous shoes .
1957: Gabrielle Chanel creates two-tone shoes . “We leave in the morning with a beige and black, we have lunch with beige and black, we go to a cocktail with beige and black. We are dressed from morning to evening! She said in 1957 when she presented her new creations for the first time. It is to Massaro that she asks to realize the two-colored shoes, since it is always the company which makes the models of Haute Couture Chanel fashion shows.
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