I love Chanel. Not the clothes, or perfume or handbags. The woman. In her own words, “My life didn’t please me so I created my life.” I don’t think that Chanel was advocating gratuitous difference- a delusion that doesn’t fool self or anyone else. Figuring out who you want to be and then being that person is what I think she meant. Not following the herd. Not latching on to the latest trend. Forgetting FOMO and the ‘Joneses’. After all, the latest and greatest is seldom either.
The 1927 slogan, “Often imitated, never duplicated” is a good reminder that to be irreplaceable you have to be you. Counterfeiting a jacket or handbag is child’s play compared to the impossible task of pretending to being someone you aren’t. As Oscar Wilde, another style maven quipped, “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” While Oscar and Coco had differing sartorial opinions (he, More is More; she, Less is More), they were hand and glove on how to be irreplaceable. Think, speak, and act for yourself. You, embraceable, irreplaceable you!