The role of the muse in fashion

What is a fashion muse? An amazing meteor that holds the eye and seduces for a second before vanishing? Or something more?

Thanks to the cult of celebrity, we have become confused between names we know,such as Victoria Beckham, Kate Moss and Yasmin Le Bon, and the real muses of the fashion pantheon. Behind every great creator there is a muse in the shadows, but they have never been given the attention they deserve. Indeed, aside from rare instances such as the recent exhibition at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Model as Muse, these voiceless creatures have often completely escaped identification.

However, the muse may soon be given due recognition, thanks in part to the publication of two new biographies. The Marchesa Casati: Portraits of a Muse is about the Italian heiress who, for three decades in the early 20th century, captivated the artists and literati of Europe. Rare Bird of Fashion recounts the story of Iris Apfel, the octogenarian American who has been muse to designers including Ralph Rucci, Geoffrey Beene and Isaac Mizrahi. The book accompanies an exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts . These singular women understood, in the Marchesa’s words, that: “There is too much sameness. The world seems to have only a desire for more of this sameness. To be different is to be alone. I do not like what is average. So I am alone.”

In this definition, the fashion muse is anti-fashion; she helps to create a tide that can rip through everything we thought we wanted to wear and make us think again. Creation needs a conduit, an arch assimilator in whom the new idea can been seen to take root and grow. Inspiration, to a designer, comes unbidden and unexpected. Karl Lagerfeld, with whom I have worked at Chanel for more than a decade, is blessed with visionary dreams that wake him and propel him like a sleepwalker to his desk. In the morning he finds drawings of new shapes and directions. John Galliano, with whom I have also collaborated, sees his next collection in its entirety in a eureka flash.

I have always avoided analysing what exactly I do at Chanel, feeling that my role is rather like being a high-wire artist without a safety net. The minute you look down at your feet you are likely to fall. In truth, my role is fairly straightforward – to be engaged in the articulation of Lagerfeld’s design concept. This involves internalising his ideas and addressing them without losing myself in them. How would that rounder shoulder feel? Would a higher heel work with a shorter, curving skirt? How do the frilled white shirts balance up against the sugary pastels of the knitwear?

At Chanel, Lagerfeld’s team is led by Virginie Viard, who interprets his drawings and works with him on colour and texture. I am there as an eye. My reactions are to proportion and to cut, to the unity of the whole.

The artist Alberto Martini describes brilliantly his collaboration with the Marchesa Casati. In the book he says to her: “One day you want a Medusa portrait. Today, a lion. Every other day are you something different? Yesterday is dead; tomorrow is a mystery. You’ll jump out of bed tomorrow morning and in the mirror you’ll see some new revelations.”

Amanda Harlech is collaborator at Chanel

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When Coco met Fulco: a style was born

The muse is having a moment – and not just in the world of high fashion. Next month an exhibition in London will celebrate the Sicilian jeweller Fulco di Verdura, whose most famous work was created for the woman who became his muse, Coco Chanel, writes Nicola Copping.

Verdura rose to prominence when he was plucked by Chanel to redesign her personal jewellery collection. In the late 1920s he produced two big enamelled cuffs adorned with the Maltese cross. Chanel wore one on each wrist, starting a trend for statement jewellery.

It is fitting that Verdura’s striking pieces are back in the limelight this year. Not only does the company’s 70th anniversary chime with the release of two films about Chanel’s life, but his idiosyncratic style also resonates with contemporary tastes.

In times of economic strife, when clothes are pared down, stand-out statement jewellery of the Verdura ilk is a good way to enhance personal style. Never underestimate the prophetic powers of the muse.

Verdura London, October 5-11, 10am-6.30pm, at the Verdura showroom, 13 Duke Street, London SW1Y 6DB