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In 1953, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel reopened her couture house after a 14-year hiatus at the age of 70. “Why did I return?” the legendary fashion designer later posited in an interview with Life magazine. “One night at dinner, Christian Dior said a woman could never be a great couturier.” It’s a quote that perfectly captures everything Chanel represents to this day, more than a century after she opened her first millinery shop in Paris in 1910. It also happens to be nestled in the enormous boarded timeline of the designer’s life that greets visitors to Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto, a major retrospective of the French couturière’s work, at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Marking the first time that a UK exhibition has been dedicated entirely to Chanel, it charts the designer’s humble beginnings in the Loire Valley of France through to the establishment of her eponymous brand and the evolution of her creations throughout the years. Incorporating gowns, suits, jewellery, fragrances and accessories, the exhibition features more than 50 of the designer’s famous tweed suits alongside several fragile pieces usually stored deep within the belly of the V&A’s archive. “We were very aware of the classic things people know about Coco Chanel,” says curator Connie Karol Burks, referencing the designer’s famous little black dresses, the 2.55 handbag and her tweed suits. “We really wanted to spotlight much more of what she contributed to fashion, and a bit more of her approach to designing clothes, like her need for comfort, simplicity and freedom of movement.” It’s a modality easily expressed from the start of the exhibition, the entrance to which is a subtle, black, perfume-like box on the ground floor (the museum’s usual rotunda-like fashion space is currently occupied by its Diva exhibition). When downstairs, visitors may be surprised to find flowing frocks fitted with bows and pockets from as early as the 1930s. “She was an active independent woman, primarily designing for herself,” explains Karol Burks. “These were practical and elegant clothes.” Practicality, as we soon learn, was an integral part of Chanel’s oeuvre. The exhibition celebrates the designer’s penchant for streamlined garments, clothes that rejected the stiff and restrictive aesthetics that had defined women’s wear just a few years earlier. It also includes details of her deep connection to Britain, including her friendships with figures from high society. While staying at the respective homes of Winston Churchill and the Duke of Westminster, Chanel embraced British sport, which is thought to be how the corresponding aesthetics of tweed and knitted jerseys found their way into her collections. Also included here is a sketch of Chanel painted by Churchill while the two were staying at the Duke of Westminster’s Scottish retreat in 1928. “Coco is here,” he wrote to his wife at the time. “She fishes from morn till night, & in two months has killed 50 salmon.” Elsewhere, highlights include the Chanel “Ford”, the name given to the designer’s little black dress that became a global staple for women everywhere. There are evening gowns aplenty, and an optic-white room entirely dedicated to the creation of the designer’s iconic perfume Chanel No 5, as well as an oval-shaped section devoted to Chanel’s tweed suits, with two rows of them spanning the curve of the room. As has already been reported, the exhibition also doesn’t shy away from Chanel’s controversial wartime activities. It features previously unseen documents illustrating evidence of her collusion with Nazis during the Second World War, while also, confoundingly, unearthing evidence that indicates she was a member of the French resistance. “It’s such a complex thing to get your head around,” says Karol Burks. “We felt it was important to have it in the exhibition and to display those original documents. But they almost give more questions than answers.” Unlike the V&A’s Dior exhibition, which charted the brand’s existence beyond the life of its founder, the Chanel retrospective ends with the designer’s death in 1971. Given the label’s extensive history in modern culture, perhaps this makes sense: there’s only so much you can squeeze into one show. But in many ways, it is a limitation that produces a lingering sense of intrigue around the designer herself. “Despite there being over 175 biographies [of Chanel], she’s still being written about and new information is still coming to light,” Karol Burks adds. “I don’t think anyone has quite pinned down who Gabrielle Chanel was. The more you learn about her, the less you know.” ‘Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto’ runs from 16 September until 25 February at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum Read More Loved in triangles, dressed for liberation: The queer fashion secrets of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group Young people not snowflakes or wasters, says curator of rebellious fashion exhibition Pharrell Williams designed his first collection for Louis Vuitton for himself

We’ve all been there. A friend’s wedding is three days away and you don’t have anything to wear. The last thing you want to do is drag yourself around high-street shops, so it inevitably you turn to ASOS. After all, the company is known for its next day delivery and simple free returns service. Though many of us are reliant on the online fast fashion retailer for last-minute holiday purchases or big seasonal shops, a new report shows that ASOS’s pre-tax losses ballooned to almost £300m in the year to 3 September, compared with £31m the previous year, according to the results published on Wednesday (1 November). Despite its huge popularity, the once undisputed queen of online retailers now faces stiff competition from abroad, challenging economic headwinds, and a maturing clientele potentially seeking a more tailored experience. Leading some to ask, is ASOS in SOS? When ASOS was launched in 2000, the online retailer was considered revolutionary. It was like a supersize department store at your fingertips and became the first online retailer that UK customers could visit and find hundreds of dresses for £30 all in one place. But, in recent years, the company has been cutting its stock as it faces severe profit and revenue losses. In July and August, the retailer said it was hit by wet during the summer months, forcing the retailer to cut its stock by 30 per cent. Some experts now say that the holes within ASOS’s business model are becoming apparent. Rick Smith, Managing Director of business recovery firm Forbes Burton tells The Independent that ASOS’s business model of allowing large numbers of free returns makes the company susceptible to financial losses during challenging economic conditions. “The buying culture within their target demographic sees several items returned for each order placed, which can make for slim profit margins,” Smith explains. “ASOS has enjoyed a stratospheric rise since their inception, but have perhaps reached their ceiling now and need to cut their cloth accordingly, especially given the amount of economic headwinds [such as as the cost of living crisis] in play at the moment.” The buying habits of consumers have also shifted in the 23 years since ASOS launched. Smith says that sifting through hundreds of products has become a painstaking and often unenjoyable task for its customers. “Once large online retailers get to a certain size, it can become laborious for customers to scour their whole catalogue,” Smith explains. “The online fashion landscape is evolving now to a point that customers are looking for a more tailored service from websites.” With the rise of shopping on social media, too, young people are increasingly buying individual items from retailers on Instagram and TikTok or instead shopping directly from the brands that ASOS stocks, such as Pull and Bear, Stüssy and Bershka, which all have their own websites. “ASOS’s busy 20-something [target] market doesn’t necessarily have the time to sift through dozens of item pages,” adds Smith. “So curated collections and recommendations based on user input may be one of the changes they eventually look at.” ASOS, which originally stood for As Seen On Screen, initially started trading with the tagline “Buy what you see on film and TV” as it exclusively sold imitations of clothing worn by celebrities. That business model quickly expanded away from the world of replica products: ASOS now offers 850 affordable to mid-range high-street brands and ships to 196 countries. But the company is also now tackling a debt issue, with net debt including leases now at £648.5m, up from £533m the year before. Analysts predict that the online fashion site may need to raise quick cash soon – potentially through the rumoured sale of its Topshop brand, which ASOS acquired when the Arcadia Group went bust in 2021 and closed Topshop’s bricks and mortar stores. Despite the profit slump and predicted future losses, José Antonio Ramos Calamonte, ASOS’s chief executive, said in the report that the company has made “good progress” in “a very challenging environment” and would continue to invest in its brand and stock more fashionable lines of clothing. The company plans to spend £30m more on marketing and said it was going “back to fashion” with its products “geared around fashion and excitement”. As ASOS faces huge losses, it was reported this week that the Chinese-founded retailer Shein has acquired UK company Missguided, with plans to “reignite” the online retailer that was only bought out of administration by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group a year and a half ago. Despite calls for boycotts from anti-fashion campaigners, Shein is currently valued at around £53bn, having expanded globally and bought many of its rival brands. In 2022, it was the most-googled fashion brand in the world and made a reported £18.9bn in revenue, suggesting that fast fashion is not falling out of favour with consumers who want to find entire outfits on a budget. Read More The funniest and most unique celebrity Halloween costumes of 2023 Kim Kardashian’s ‘power-nipple’ bra isn’t empowering – it’s the stuff of nightmares It’s ‘Phoebe Philo’ day – here’s why fashion fans are so excited The funniest and most unique celebrity Halloween costumes of 2023 Kim Kardashian’s ‘power-nipple’ bra isn’t empowering – it’s the stuff of nightmares It’s ‘Phoebe Philo’ day – here’s why fashion fans are so excited

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An Adidas campaign for Pride 2023 has gained considerable backlash after featuring male-presenting models wearing women’s swimsuits. Now, many people have defended the brand, amidst a wave of anti-trans sentiment towards companies including transgender people in their advertising. The sportswear brand unveiled its new collection for Pride 2023 on 15 May, titled “Let Love Be Your Legacy”. The range of apparel and footwear was designed by queer, South African designer Rich Mnisi, and comes as a collaboration with the non-profit Athlete Ally, which focuses on ending homophobia and transphobia in sports. In a statement, Rich Mnisi said the collection was “a symbol for self-acceptance and LGBTQIA+ advocacy.” On the company’s website, one of the bathing suits from the line – a colourful one-piece swimsuit called the “Pride Swimsuit” that retails for $70 – was being shown off by an apparently male model, though their gender is unknown. The swimsuit was marked under the women’s sportswear section on the website. The campaign photoshoot immediately set the internet ablaze, as many people criticised Adidas for “erasing women” by using a male-presenting model to advertise its female clothing. Former NCAA women’s swim athlete Riley Gaines, who has often been outspoken against trans women competing in sports, tweeted: “I don’t understand why companies are voluntarily doing this to themselves. They could have at least said the suit is ‘unisex’, but they didn’t because it’s about erasing women. Ever wondered why we hardly see this go the other way?” “We women will not be erased!!! Quit trying to replace us with male models!!! We’ve fought hard to be heard. Quit attempting to erase us again!!!” another user tweeted. Others called out the company for the move towards “woke” advertising, in light of the recent Bud Light and Nike campaigns featuring trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. “Apparently Adidas hasn’t learned the lesson from Bud Light fiasco. Time to give Adidas the ‘get woke, go broke’ treatment,” said one person. British internet personality Oli London added, “Nike and Adidas are at War to see which brand can become the Most WOKE! Both brands are now using male models to advertise women’s sports bras. Who wins the WOKE Award?” Reviews for the bathing suit on the Adidas website have also been flooded with one-star ratings and negative reviews, like one which read: “Hope the same thing that happens to Bud Light happens to them with this woke trash.” Despite some of the criticism, many people have stepped up to defend Adidas for featuring the models in its Pride Month collection. In response to the backlash, author Dr Delatorro McNeal appeared on daytime talk show Daily Blast Live to discuss the Adidas Pride campaign. “My concern with all of the bashing and all of the categorising is that we’re not leading with love and we’re not leading with acceptance and inclusion,” he said. “We all want to count, we all want to matter, we all want to be included, and it’s so vitally important. So I believe that, although there’s a fine line between free speech and freedom of expression, I believe at the end of the day if Adidas wants to create this line, let them do it. The customers that are going to align with that message and are aligned with that product are going to get it those that won’t, won’t.” @dailyblastlive Something we have been talking a lot about on the show is big brands like Bud Light and Nike are facing boycotts because of their ads that include transgender people. Adidas is under fire for using a model to highlight its pride swimsuit collection. People online are claiming this ‘woke marketing’ is ‘erasing women.’ Reviews on the site have been flooded with negative comments like this one saying, ‘Hope the same thing happened to Bud Light happens to them with this woke trash.’ Dr. Delatorro shares his take on this. #adidas #backlash #leadwithlove #love #lgbtq #drdelatorro #transgender #swimsuitmodel #model #budlight #trans ♬ original sound - DBL Others took to social media to express their support for Adidas, as well as their confusion over the widespread outrage. “Why are people in an uproar about a man modelling a womens ‘pride’ swimsuit for adidas??????” asked one person on Twitter. “WHO CARES?” Meanwhile, on TikTok, someone else said: “I want one!!! It’s beautiful and so is the model!” “Trans people exist! They shop too!! If the model doesn’t represent you it probably wasn’t meant to,” another TikToker said. “Y’all are making this outrage up,” a third user wrote. “I’m a millennial woman and I don’t feel erased or threatened. Accept people, love people, grow.” In April, Bud Light faced similar backlash for partnering with trans influencer and model Dylan Mulvaney in an Instagram video. The 26-year-old TikTok star revealed her new sponsorship deal with the beer company when she filmed herself with multiple cans of Bud Light. The brand had also sent her a can of Bud Light with her face on it. The video instantly received backlash from conservative politicians and celebrities, including Kid Rock and Travis Tritt. Others called for a boycott of the beer, and filmed videos of themselves smashing or shooting at cases of Budweiser products. Anheuser-Busch, the producer of Budweiser beers, issued a statement in response to the boycott, saying that they “never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people.” That same month, the actor also faced transphobic backlash for her partnership with Nike. In response, the sportswear brand wrote in the pinned comments of one of its social media posts: “You are an essential component to the success of your community! We welcome comments that contribute to a positive and constructive discussion. Be kind…Be inclusive…Encourage each other…Hate speech, bullying, or other behaviours that are not in the spirit of a diverse and inclusive community will be deleted.” The Independent has contacted Adidas for comment. Read More LGBTQ+ group suspends Bud Light maker's rating over handling of backlash to transgender influencer Ted Cruz wants to investigate Bud Light for working with Dylan Mulvaney: ‘Melting down over a trans woman’ Dylan Mulvaney reveals impact of trolls misgendering her following Bud Light controversy Adidas plans to sell Yeezy stock from axed Kanye West deal and donate proceeds Get to know Foday Dumbuya, winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design 7 beauty changes to make as the weather gets warmer

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