The Handmade Process of Chanel handbag There situated a small town with approximately 3000 inhabitants which is one hour's drive away from Paris. Since 1991, here is the only production base of Chanel handbags, 100 to 250 Chanel handbags are brought to the world per day here. The factory sits in the green bushes and an athletic field, all kinds of sketches and concepts from Karl Lagerfeld's studio will become the reality through 350 workers' hands. The cutting, fitting, sewing, tailoring, splicing, installing the zipper, embedding the grommets, seaming the flap, the packing ......The entire manufacture process takes 180 working procedures, the direct and indirect participating man-power comes up to 6 people. Take a 2.55 handbag which takes two and a half working hour to make as standard, to complete a Cambon series handbag with many pockets needs 5 hours. But before official production, a standard sample needs to be done in a week's time, simultaneously carries on the unceasing communication with Cambon Street. Generally speaking, for a series with 30 to 40 designs, the samples prepared often surpass 200. Manufacture procedure: Choosing the top quality leather, cutting, fitting, tailoring, sewing, splicing, embedding the grommets, delicate handicraft---twisting the chain round the leather strap, fixing the leather strap with twisted chain, sewing the flap, and final completion. In February, 1955, Ms Chanel has launched a handbag which raised a revolution in the Boutique industry. After 50 years, this classic handbag still serves as a best illustration of grace. The Chanel 2.55 handbag is a fine piece in the respect of the date it was born. In 1955 Marlon Brando has played in "A Streetcar Named Desire" with James Dean bidding farewell to us on a speeding Porsche, while rock and roll has welcomed its first spring in the US. With its rectangular shape, leather or knitted material and gold-plated charms, the 2.55 series are famous for its simple and clean lines, and soon becomes the symbol of a new life style because of its path breaking "easy to carry" design. The sensitive Ms Chanel has realized that, the female is undertaking more and more social roles and thus have to participate in various kinds of different environment directly, they have their own job and family, have to take business trip by airplane, also needs to drive by themselves, therefore the kind of clutches that need to be held in the hand in all times in the past becomes a burden and unbecoming; She ingeniously “transplant” a slender strap on the bag, designing a messenger bag. Therefore, the straps which in its earliest times were used on military backpacks finally entered the fashion domain. Ms Chanel twisted and penetrated a metal chain into the leather straps, for the added component made the handbag drape better and easier to carry. The leather chain strap has become a mark of the 2.55 classics, the golden chain strap on the evening banquet clutch, or the leather chain on a daily use handbag, all form deep impression at a first look. Since the 20's of last century, Chanel handbag becomes a "must have" designer handbag for fashionable women, its day bag and evening bag is made by lambskin and quilted material respectively, each has three different sizes. The embossing diamond shape patterns on the handbag's surface together with N°5 the perfume, the camellia, the pearl necklace and the black dress have become the brand's everlasting symbols; it seems we can find the shadow of the diamond shape pattern on the horse rider's jacket, and the suede sofa in Ms Chanel's apartment located in Cambon Street. The double C logo on the handbag cover did not come to existence until Ms Chanel's death in 1971 which at that time people called it “woman's fastener”. The internal designs of the 2.55 series are also very delicate, a lining of red and black, the inner layer is divided into small pockets, and even a lipstick has its specific position. The eye-catching Burgundy red color

makes nobody able to neglect its existence. Everything has been carefully designed to cover practicability and artistry that the 2.55 handbags have altogether 3 inner pockets with the smallest one for putting a lipstick specifically; so elegant detailing was very rare at that time.All handbags come from a factory nearby Paris, each pattern needs 6 workers to spend 10 hours and 180 working procedures to complete. From tweed texture to canvas, from sewing thread to fastener, from pocket to lining ......Since 1983, Karl Lagerfeld keeps bringing new changes to this handbags unceasingly; But no matter how it changes, we can recognize it from a mere look. For its legendary 50th anniversary, Chanel pairs a rectangular shape fastener to the initial leather 2.55 handbag; now, with three colors, five sizes, this design has almost become a perfect symbol of modern luxury goods. Photo by replica handbag