“I like the idea of these two strong women…You know, there’s Chanel everywhere.…I take a little idea and I make a collection.”
-Karl Lagerfeld, WWD
Empress Theodora and the Byzantine Empire were the inspiration behind Karl Lagerfeld’s Paris-Byzance collection. Coco Chanel herself loved Byzantine jewelry and she borrowed motifs for the jewelry she designed. Both women, Empress Theodora and Coco Chanel rose from very humble beginnings to be very powerful women who exerted tremendous influence.
“Theodora was a circus artist who became empress, like Chanel, who was a little singer and became a fashion empress.”
-Karl Lagerfeld, Style.com
It’s nice to be reminded that strong, independent, ground-breaking women have been around for centuries Empress Theodora is a saint in the Orthodox Church and some might say that to some fashion lovers, Coco is a saint too…