Chanel in context – Chanel’s world:
Modernism & modernity in changing times

Take a journey into Chanel’s extraordinary world with Chanel in Context, a three-part series exploring the design, innovation, legacy and influence of Gabrielle Chanel.

Progressiveness amid conservatism; ostentation amid sobriety: In this session, NGV curators and guest panellists take a close look at the emergence and early work of Chanel in the context of Modernism, modernity and society in the first part of the twentieth century.

Host

Paola Di Trocchio
Curator, Fashion and Textiles, NGV  

Speakers

Natalya Lusty
Natalya is Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne and an ARC Future Fellow (2018-2022). Her work examines the aesthetic, political and cultural forms of modernism and modernity, including fashion. She is a co-founder of the Critical Fashion Studies research group at the University of Melbourne.

Dr Jess Berry
Senior Lecturer, Design History and Theory, Monash University. Dr Jess Berry’s interdisciplinary research considers relationships between fashion and spatial practices. Her most recent monographs are House of Fashion: Haute Couture and the Modern Interior (Bloomsbury 2018) and Cinematic Style: Fashion, Architecture and Interior Design on Film (Bloomsbury 2022). She also undertakes research that intersects gender and spatial equity in public space through her work with the Monash University XYX Lab.