Inside CHANEL is a short video series that describes the timeline of Gabrielle Chanel and the House itself, telling stories, histories, and iconographies in each chapter. The 27th chapter is out today, April 22nd and will elaborate on Gabrielle Chanel’s monumental impact on cinema, as well as how film inspired her own artistic processes throughout her life.

Gabrielle Chanel and cinema itself were born five years apart in the late 19th century, and the spark of creativity that film started in the art world was never missed by the designer who knew that fashion and cinema must fuse together. She aimed to free the body and add rhythm to female silhouettes with her garments, making film producer Samuel Goldwyn keen to use Chanel as a costume designer in his 1931 movie Tonight Or Never. But Hollywood wasn’t as privy to Chanel’s elegant Parisian designs as Goldwyn was, so she left it for French cinema and flourished.

Dressing female actresses for French directors before the Second World War brought Chanel acclaim in the cinema world, which only increased during the emergence of French New Wave as her tweed suits fully embodied the new film aesthetic. New Wave actresses began to sport Chanel’s garments outside of the silver screen, testifying to CHANEL’s allure and timeless modernity.

Gabrielle Chanel’s footprint was starkly made on 20th-century film, from Hollywood’s golden age to French New Wave and avant-garde cinema. That footprint continues to imprint women’s lives, both on the screen and in the streets.

View the full story of Gabrielle Chanel and Cinema, available via CHANEL’s website.