However, she is even more noticeable with the nickname “Coco Chanel”. Her stylistic influence still carries over 50 years after her death. Gabrielle Chanel learned how to sew in an orphanage. Photo: Vogue. L’Officiel said Gabrielle Chanel was the daughter of a laundress and street vendor. She has not always had an easy and peaceful life. She was placed in an orphanage with her 12-year-old sister. This place has strict regulations, causing Gabrielle Chanel to have a tiring daily job. However, also at the orphanage, she learned how to sew. She left the orphanage and transferred to a Catholic boarding school for girls in Moulins, a region of France. To support herself financially, she started working as a maid and singer in pubs. In this place, she became famous for her song Qui’a vu Coco? (rough translation: Who has seen Coco?). This is the origin of the nickname “Coco”, which means “sweetheart” in French. At the pub, Coco Chanel met people important to the fashion industry. Among them was Etienne Balsan, who helped her sell hats from her rented apartment. In French, the word “coco” means “sweetheart”. Photo: Vogue. Years later, Coco Chanel opened a studio and quickly gained fame as a designer. Her fame continued to spread. Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel died at the age of 87 in 1971. She was the only fashion designer to be included in the magazine’s list of “100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century” Time voted. As a distinguished fashion innovator, she has extended her influence beyond haute couture, realizing a design aesthetic in jewelry, handbags and fragrances. Fragrance No.5 and keychain CC monogram is the identity of the Chanel brand. Photo: Sohu, ELLE HK. Vietnamese-born model goes catwalk for Chanel, Louis Vuitton Belonging to the generation of famous models, Jade Nguyen has the opportunity to strut her stuff at prestigious shows.

Les Baux-de-Provence, a picturesque hilltop village in the south of France, is known for its winding streets, picturesque setting with the famous Carrières de Lumières cave. The limestone quarries are a major tourist attraction, hosting regular light and sound shows dedicated to artists such as Van Gogh and Cézanne. For Chanel, this cave has special meaning because this place was once a favorite place of the great French writer Jean Cocteau (1889 – 1963), also the place where he set the scene for a beautiful haunting movie. “Le Treat d’Orpheé” (The Will of Orpheus) 1959. Jean Cocteau and Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. Jean Cocteau is a close friend of founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. Cocteau considered Coco Chanel “the greatest tailor” of her time. The two spent a lot of time creating and sharing their passions in art at 31 Rue Cambon in Paris. Although they cannot meet often, the two keep in touch through handwritten letters. Chanel’s creative director, Virginie Viard shared: “During life, Coco Chanel was close to Jean Cocteau and I also loved Jean’s movie “The Will of Orpheus”. Especially the image of the man and the horse. Black went down to the Carrieres de Lumières cave, his silhouette striking against the white limestone walls. Inspired by letters exchanged between French poet Jean Cocteau and fashion house Coco Chanel during their close years, the collection connects ’60s design with the decade’s punk-rock style. 90, 2000. The show begins in Chanel’s Paris apartment, where models become moving portraits. The opulence and lavishness of the Parisian apartment, with its architectural and decorative details, is a stark contrast to the vast cavernous spaces of the Carrières de Lumières in Provence. The Cruise 2022 collection blends distinctive designs from different decades. Still designs tweed fabric, shoes, vest with white, black, and pink colors typical of the French fashion house. However, Virginie Viard has emphasized a bit more punk elements of the 60s-70s through the designs of mesh skirts, fringed leather skirts evoking wild features, combining the nobility of pearls and splendor of sequins. Models stand out with jet-black smoky eye makeup with messy hair and a series of lip piercings and mesh stockings. Supermodels strutted on the catwalk in the Cruise 2022 show. This is perhaps Viard’s most liberal collection since taking the helm of the French brand. The designer said she wanted to do something “quite rock”, reminiscent of the 60’s modernity in classic Chanel designs. Jean’s influence is also reflected through a series of animal motifs such as lions, pigeons, elephants, sphinxes, etc., hand-embroidered on the designs in this collection. These are the animals that have appeared in familiar items at Coco Chanel’s house at 31 Rue Cambon Street. Designs with dominant black – white tones stand out in the large space of the Carrieres de Lumières cave. Although Viard has been with the home for more than three decades, it’s been since taking over from the late artistic director Karl Lagerfeld in 2019 that Virginie Viard has truly admired them. “With Karl, I focused more on listening to him. Now, it feels like I’m exploring other sides of Chanel. When I read the letters that Cocteau wrote to Coco – I may have known about them before, but I only skimmed them. While now, those letters have touched my heart,” Viard shared. Viard sought inspiration for the outfits from the passion Chanel and Jean shared with each other during their lives. But Viard isn’t one to get bogged down in detail so ivory lace dresses, high-waisted white linen pants, dotted with hand-embroidered patterns like lucky charms, Provence wildflowers — lavender, grass musk, ranunculus,.. Cocteau’s influence on Chanel’s Creative Director is also evident in sleeveless tweed suits with white sailor collars combined with vivid blues, or in ruched white jumpsuits. recalls a costume Chanel designed for the play “Oedipus Rex” by the great writer. Chanel Cruise 2022 not only combines punk rock in a classic design but also shows the spirit of travel in the tourist fashion season. Loose caftan tops, easy-to-match two-piece dresses, and robes over bathing suits, appeared constantly on the catwalk. The collection is dotted with dresses made from woven chiffon strips with delicate watercolors. In addition, the company also promotes sustainable fashion trends when using 4 environmentally friendly tweed fabrics. These fabrics are made by Lesage, the renowned Italian yarn manufacturer that Chanel acquired last year, 28 of the 78 models in the collection contain more than 70% sustainable fibres. The show ended with beautiful images when the models together released white doves into the sky to the music and the voices of Sébastian Tellier, Paradis, Angèle, etc. under the sunset light, symbolizing information The message of peace and hope that Viard and Chanel convey in the Cruise 2022 collection. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fashion industry has fallen into crisis, must gradually make efforts to recover and promote the race on digital platforms. The catwalks, online fashion campaigns, at-home photography, … impress the fashion world. Like other high-fashion brands, Chanel has been steadily developing digital products that help viewers and customers have the most authentic experiences – and it has made no secret of its intention to film. re-format directly as soon as possible, as soon as the epidemic is brought under global control.

The Coco de Mer, also known as the sea coconut or the double coconut, is an endemic plant species of the archipelago, with the largest and heaviest seeds in the world. The special shape of the sea coconut tree seed also attracts a lot of attention.

Have ability to be extinct

Appearing in many legends and folklore, this plant grows naturally on only two of the Seychelles’ 115 islands, including Praslin, the second largest island in the country after Mahé, and the nearby Curieuse.

Currently there are only about 8,000 mature trees, sea coconut is listed as endangered in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Special shape and size of the seed of the sea coconut tree – coco de mer. Photo: AFP.

Coco de mer is very diverse, it has separate male and female plants. They can take up to 50 years to mature to breed, depending on environmental conditions. The slow growth rate has contributed to the endangered species of the species.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the black market for nut shells thrived, leading to widespread poaching in protected areas. Other threats include wildfires, erratic rainfall caused by climate change and pests and diseases.

Now, conservationists have joined the islanders to protect the sea coconuts. Under a program launched in the summer of 2020, residents have been invited to apply to plant up to five coconut seeds per person in their gardens. Dr. Frauke Fleischer-Dogley, Executive Director of the nonprofit Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF), the program’s initiator in partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment (MACCE), for Previously, many farmers had to steal seeds from the nature reserve to bring home to plant themselves.

The new plan is hoped to give islanders the opportunity to legally plant coco de mer and preserve them for the future. “Planting coco de mer in private land gives Seychellois a joint ownership of the species,” she said.

The female coco de mer tree on Praslin Island has many seeds. Photo: Alamy.

Since 1978, the sale of coco de mer seeds has been controlled by license. Anyone who grows the tree, or sells seeds, must be registered with the MACCE. Each tree seed is numbered and tracked. Even coco de mer seed pods, sold to tourists for between 5,000 and 6,000 Seychellois rupees ($ 230-275), must also come with a permit.

At this price, nearly 100,000 Seychelles residents have no access to the coco de mer tree. The seeds sold as a souvenir cannot be grown either because the kernel inside the shell has been removed and processed separately for sale in East Asia, where it is believed to be an aphrodisiac.

“We think the planned distribution of seeds will stop the incentive to steal them,” said Dr. Fleischer-Dogley. The seeds will be taken from the Valleé de Mai and the Fond Ferdinand Nature Reserve (also managed by the SIF), where about 50 fallen pods are harvested each month.

The core inside the coco de mer seed shell is specially prepared for sale in East Asia, where it is believed to be an aphrodisiac. Photo: AFP.

Under the program, SIF requires residents to submit an application on a detailed form and pay a fee of 500 rupees of Seychellois seeded on their own land.

Farmers must also meet some criteria. Since large trees will reach a height of 7.5 to 10.5 m, the area of ​​planted land should reach a minimum of 10×10 m per seed. SIF staff will come to evaluate each parcel to determine if the applicant is eligible to plant trees, and how many seeds can be planted. They must also make sure poachers cannot access the planting site.

The largest seed in the world

“Initially, we thought the demand would be about 30 counties. But the response far exceeded expectations. By the end of the December application deadline, the SIF had received 104 applications for 422 counties, ”said Dr. Fleischer-Dogley.

The slogan “We can prevent the theft of coco de mer seeds” on the island of Praslin. Photo: AFP.

94 of the applicants were from the Mahé coup, 7 from Praslin and three from La Digue. Since the program’s inception, SIF has conducted 60 garden surveys. All were successful, but in some cases the number of seeds had to decrease due to lack of space or poor soil quality. To date, 66 seeds have been planted on 26 plots.

In December of February20, the remaining surveying and seeding trips were halted due to limited movement due to Covid-19.

Alix Esparon planted coco de mer seeds on his land in Mahé, together with Ronny Rose from SIF, in October 2020. Photo: SIF.

Since germination will take several months, SIF staff will check the planted seeds after 6 months. “We not only record the number of plots from the cadastral map, we also record the GPS coordinates where each seed is planted,” said Fleischer-Dogley. If there is one seed that does not sprout, we can exchange another seed for the people if they want.

The slow growth of the sea coconut tree means that not all growers can see their coconut tree mature. “This is a very long term project,” says botanist Katy Beaver.

Coco de mer shells are displayed in a souvenir shop at Seychelles International Airport, Mahé. Photo: AFP.

Lindsay Chong Seng, head of the Seychelles Plant Conservation Action group, added: “This program will increase the population of coco de mer, which is very beneficial in terms of biodiversity. It will help turn coco de mer into a cultural highlight without destroying its habitat. “In the long term, it could reduce the pressure on the last remaining wild coco de mer forests on Praslin Island.”

However, the challenge remains. “Most of these palms live in isolation from their natural habitat, where pollination takes place without assistance. So, artificial pollination will be necessary and will have to be timed, ”said Beaver.

Coconut shell coco de mer sculpture outside a post office on the island of Mahé, Seychelles. Photo: AFP.

Currently, the people of Seychelles who are planting coco de mer on their land are very happy. Heather Adams and her husband, artist Michael Adams, recently planted 5 seeds on their campus in Mahé. Heather hopes all five seeds will sprout. “I’m sure generations to come will cherish them,” she said.