Is Chanel By Any Other Name, Still Chanel?

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit the auberge of one of the great chefs of Japan. (Turns out there are some benefits to to family vacations besides the cramped quarters of the guest room!) I could regale you with the food, but seeing as you all weren't there I'm not sure you'd be that interested. After all, I'm the type of person that if I wasn't there to eat it - I could care less. I'm a bit self centered like that, but then again what blogger isn't?

What I do think you would all interested in is the fact that I was able to get my hands on a bottle of wine by Chanel. Well, not exactly. Chanel apparently owns a winery in France, and guess what? They had the bottle at Auberge Au Mirador a restaurant run by Chef Katsumata. This is a man who's cooking (according to my significant other) will ruin Paris for you. So, to say that the wine had to be up to snuff to even be considered as an offering by the restaurant is putting it mildly.

The wine was fantastic of course as I would not expect anything less. What was actually more interesting was the fact that the wine bottle itself neglected to mention its association with Chanel. In fact, it was the waiter that informed us that Chanel owned the winery.

Turns out the Wertheimer family that backed and continues to own Chanel bought the Chateau Rauzan Segla Winery in 1994. I guess this is why I always knew Chanel "owned" a winery. I'm not surprised that I never knew which, however, because as I said the label does not exactly scream Chanel. And yet after considering all the other wines this is one we chose because of the association with Chanel! What can I say? I'm blessed with indulgent hosts who were happy to let me have it as it would increase my fashionista street cred!

It is funny how far the reach of a brand can extend. Chanel is a fashion brand and yet I found myself influencing my culinary preferences. This is almost bizarre when you take into account that the brand as we know it today has way more to do with the reinvention of Coco Chanel's iconography by Karl Lagerfeld than it does the Wertheimer family's palette.

At the end of the day it was aspiration at work. Right now thanks to my monthly student loans I can't afford a Chanel bag or even be gifted one either. What I can have, however, is a bottle of wine associated with the brand. Textbook marketing/branding 101.

If it had been plastered with the double C though I don't think I would have been as interested. After all, I am somewhat of a wine snob and am not exactly a fan of nouveau riche predilections. This bottle of wine struck a unique balance that most co-branding opportunities fail to do: entice you with the branding association but sustain interest through quality in product as well as presentation.

Granted this move by Chanel in purchasing the winery was no more high fashion in concept than Jay Z or Diddy's foray into spirits game. Yet, Chanel was able to leverage this purchase into a unique branding opportunity. It piques consumer interest to hear that the wine is associated with Chanel and when it delivers it reinforces Chanel as arbiter of taste.

The Plus Sized Fashionista's New Best Friend: the Millennial

Elitism in fashion is on its way out and we have the rise of the Millennials to thank for it.

Marketers are literally chomping at the bit to appeal these consumers aged 18-28 as they are considered to be the holy grail in this depressed economy. Why? They have the most disposable cash and are considered to be the tastemakers of today as well as tomorrow.


Millennials are different from other consumer groups as they are "eager to be entertained and informed yet [they] are resistant to the familiar...in-your-face 20th-century approach". They are a "generation of free downloads, easy access to everything — what the American psychologist Nathan Brody calls 'the entitled generation'". Brands, as such, have been forced to create new strategies to speak to these consumers in order to simply survive.

It is no wonder then that exclusive world of fashion has begun to open up lately - it has no other choice! That is why everyone recently is trying to get on the diffusion/capsule collection bandwagon, and also why we are seeing an increased presence of brands on the web outside of etail. Millennials, after all, are known for their love of wired interactive connectivity and brands as such are scrambling to catch up.


A prime example of this is Nowness a new website launched by LVMH. There are no products being directly sold on the site and no mention of the site's ownership by LVMH. In fact, the only press they get from the website is when a product from one of their lines is mentioned every so often. It may seem strange but the main goal of this website is to generate goodwill via remarkable experiential editorials, and also to stand as demonstration of the brand's commitment to their consumers opinions/interests. This is essential when marketing to Millennials as they will seek out other brands if they feel that they are being ignored, and in a market being propped up by their purchases their departure can be deadly blow.


So, what does this mean for the plus size fashionista you may be asking yourself? It means for the first time there is a chance new voices to be heard in fashion, and plus size voices are breaking through as we speak. Marie Claire was the first to jump on the bandwagon of plus size editorials by having plus sized columnist Ashley Falcon join their team. The blogosphere also is a heavy hitting sphere of influence in this regard as it is changing the way fashion is being viewed. Take Gabi of Young, Fat, & Fabulous - she is now vlogging for Vogue Italia Curvy, which is a whole website owned by Vogue Italia devoted to plus size high fashion. Or the fact that Stéphanie of Le Blog de Big Beauty is being paid to create a plus size collection for La Redoute.

I mean I know we still have a long way to go until parity is reached, but for the first time in a long time it actually feels like my voice is being heard.