In the mid-1920s, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel started a revolution. Already established as a fine couturier, known for elegant dresses, chic jersey sportswear and her Chanel No.5 perfume (the scent launched in 1921), it was the introduction of the tweed suit, first revealed in 1925 during a small show in her Rue de Cambon salon, and from 1927 showcased in her new boutique in London’s Mayfair, that put ‘Chanel’ on the lips of British high society’s most fashionable members. 

The suit comprised a knee-length fitted skirt matched with a straight-cut, collarless jacket. It was tailored and smart, yet highly unusual to see such a fabric in a French couture collection. Tweed was considered unglamorous and unremarkable, a practical material reserved for farmers and men who enjoyed country sports. Yet it was the qualities that made it perfect for such pursuits – warmth, comfort, flexibility, breathability – that made tweed ideal for Chanel. She wanted clothing that would allow women the level of movement and pragmatism enjoyed by men, while upholding sophistication and elegance. 

Early versions of the suit used a woollen jersey (another unremarkable fabric transformed into remarkable clothes by the designer), but the tweed weave provided so much more. It maintained its structure, draped without sagging, and would hug the figure without restriction: her tailoring dream. 

Chanel suit, circa 1964. Image: Chanel/Nicholas Alan Cope

Image: V&A

The appeal of tweed was not born from distant studies. Her decade-long romance, beginning around 1924, with Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, 2^nd Duke of Westminster, had particular influence. Chanel spent great amounts of time with the Duke in London, Cheshire and Scotland, taking part in country sports including hunting, horse riding and fishing (in which, it’s said, she became quite accomplished). Chanel embraced the British countryside and the fashion that went with it. 

Famously, Chanel appropriated men’s clothing, her lover’s tweed jackets being a favourite, and she considered British manufacturers the best at producing it. The items she wore were translated into the clothes she designed. In 1924, she began working with Scottish-born tweed-maker, William Linton of Carlisle, to produce lightweight, softer versions of his fabric, transforming it into the feminine, boucle wools we recognise today. 

Though menswear (and love affairs) offered inspiration, it was Chanel’s vision of the modern woman, the vision of herself, that brought the suit its purpose. She believed women should “move with ease, to not feel like they’re in costume… The human body is always moving,” she said. The suit enabled her to achieve this. 

Skirts sat on the hips, rather than nipping at the waist, and had a slight flare; hours were spent perfecting every jacket sleeve to ensure total ease of movement. A feature of particular importance was the pockets. ‘Four real pockets,’ one announcement proclaimed, ‘a revolution!’ (At the time, women’s pockets were non-existent or a decorative illusion, but Chanel wanted somewhere to store her cigarettes). 

Garments were lined with the same fabric as the blouse to be worn underneath, and fastened with gilded buttons. They were smart enough for business, but stylish enough for supper. By designing a soft and fluid tweed suit for women, Chanel offered ‘the sartorial dignity that was previously only available to men’, wrote Chanel biographer, Justine Picardie. This ‘freedom of movement,’ Picardie continued, ‘suggests an independent woman, in the way that Chanel was.’ 

The designer’s ideals went hand-in-hand with the changing role of women in society: the war had seen many women enter the workforce, and plenty stayed in employment after; new ideas of individuality and independence were beginning to coalesce, and the second feminist movement was taking shape. Coco Chanel became a template for the modern woman – and by uniting tweed, a quintessentially British fabric, with a chic French aesthetic, set the template for her wardrobe. 

Chanel Haute Couture SS25

Chanel closed her couture house and textile factories in 1939 with the onset of the Second World War. She spent the following years in exile in Switzerland due to her connections with a German officer (a relationship that led to accusations of Nazi collaboration). During this time, Christian Dior experienced great success with his ‘New Look’, a style that returned women to the full skirts with nipped waists that Chanel had fought against. She returned to fashion in 1954, aged 71, reopening her Paris boutique and began redefining womenswear once more. 

The tweed suit featured in her first new collection, and has appeared in most thereafter. The suits were more tailored and refined than before, with metal chains sewn into the hems to ensure the garments fell perfectly – a feature that remains on most Chanel jackets today. The evolution continued with collars: some had lapels, others would stand-up, and collarless styles remained. She returned to Linton Tweeds (a relationship that still endures) and enlisted Scotland-based designer, Bernat Klein, to experiment with colours and metallic threads. Every suit was different, but each one adhered to Chanel’s fashion manifesto: clothes should be simple, comfortable, allow movement, and represent the epitome of elegance. 

Some of most high-profile names from the middle of last century were photographed wearing her tweeds, from Princess Grace of Monaco to Elizabeth Taylor to Marlene Dietrich. Jacqueline Kennedy’s bright pink suit and matching hat, arguably one of the most famous suits ever worn, was ordered from the 1961 couture collection and worn multiple times before it was televised around the world on that fateful day in Dallas two years later.

The tweed suit became a house code, and, like an Olympic flame, passed from one collection to the next. Karl Lagerfeld, who assumed creative control of Chanel in 1983, never shied away from reinterpretation. Bold colours, various lengths, lashings of embellishment and adventurous styling pushed the boundaries, but the tweed suit was always there (inspiring a 20-metre monument in the centre of a runway in 2008). 

Virginie Viard, creative director of Chanel from 2019 to 2024, dedicated the Autumn/Winter 2022 collection to tweed, while we await its reincarnation under the tutelage of Viard’s replacement, Matthieu Blazy. Tweed continues to be worn by the fashion elite – both Louis Vuitton Men's creative director Pharrell Williams and American rapper Kendrick Lamar have recently embraced it – and the country set that inspired Chanel’s first creation. It’s no surprise that every season, both high-end and high-street brands offer some sort of tribute. 

A century on, Chanel’s tweed suit remains as powerful and recognisable as ever. Proof that fashions fade, but true style endures. 

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