Last night I watched the movie Coco before Chanel with Audrey Tantou in the leading role. What an excellent movie. She was disgusted with the clothing that men designers created for women. Clothing that made women look like walking peacocks. Clothing that was so tightly corseted and uncomfortable that the women could barely move let alone ride horses or play sports. Her clothing influence defined the modern woman for over 60 years and her business still runs today although she has been long gone. She, like artists and designers, had a philosophy about her art and her work.

“Don’t spend time beating on a wall hoping to transform it into a door”. Coco Chanel

“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.” Coco Chanel

Here are some other famous quotes:

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”. That’s a famous one from William Morris, designer, decorator, artist.

“History has remembered the kings and warriors because they destroyed; art has remembered the people because they created”. Also by William Morris.

“Every designers’ dirty little secret is that they copy other designers’ work. They see work they like and then they imitate it. Rather cheekily they call this inspiration”. Aaron Russel

Regarding the last quote: Humankind has always built on what came before. It doesn’t matter if we talk about art, design or science – everything we learn or develop is brought about through our knowledge of what came before. Today it takes us less time to know about what came before because of our technological advances in communication. Otherwise it would take forever to develop anything. For example did you know that it took approximately 3,000 years to develop a back for the stool (in Egyptian times) into the chair we know today?