Explainer / How Coco Chanel’s orphanage upbringing inspired the 2.55 bag – the iconic clutch with the chain strap that changed the world

Apr 12 , 2022

Fashion icon Coco Chanel was inspired by a difficult childhood to create signature little black dresses, stretch jerseys, mannish tweed tailoring – and the versatile 2.55 handbag – to liberate women from the restrictive apparel that dominated in the early 20th century. Photo: Chanel

How was a 1920s flapper to flourish a cigarette, grasp a champagne glass and dance a Charleston while holding a clutch? And so Coco’s revelatory chain strap was born

Named after its eventual design date in February 1955, the beloved Chanel 2.55’s distinctive diamond-shaped quilting was inspired by childhood home Aubazine Abbey’s windows

Abandoned by her impoverished father after her mother died of tuberculosis, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was raised in strict austerity at the orphanage of Aubazine Abbey. Perhaps that explains why she spent her career as a designer making women’s lives easier.

“I make fashion women can live in, breath in, feel comfortable in and look younger in,” she said. True to her word, Chanel’s signature little black dresses, stretch jersey garments and mannish tweed tailoring were all created to liberate ladies from the restrictive apparel that had dominated in the early 20th century.

The Chanel 2.55 handbag is named after the date its design was finalised. Photo: Chanel

Surely one of the greatest of her innovations was the handbag that came to be dubbed the 2.55.

In the 1920s, Coco (seen left) was frustrated at having to keep a purse in hand while socialising. How were you to flourish a cigarette, grasp a champagne glass and perhaps even dance a Charleston, while simultaneously holding a clutch? Her solution: adding a chain that allowed the purse to be perched over the shoulder or in the crook of the arm.

It was only several decades later that Chanel began to manufacture and market this innovation, with the month and year its design was finalised – February 1955 – giving the bag its moniker, 2.55.

Although it has now been produced in countless permutations and fabrications – from clear plastic or denim, to silk or crocodile – the 2.55 was originally made in supple lambskin, quilted with padding to give the delicate hide a little heft. This is the wellspring of the quilting motif that the late Karl Lagerfeld interpreted in myriad forms during his 36-year tenure as Chanel’s creative director, making it a house signature.

Featuring the brand’s signature square lock, this wallet also works as a handy evening bag thanks to an extra long chain. Photo: Handout

The diamond shape of the quilting is drawn from the stained glass windows at Aubazine – also the source of the brand’s interlinked CC logo – while the interior of a classic 2.55 is lined with red leather, a reference to the red uniforms worn by Chanel and her fellow orphans. The leather-plaited chains (initially 24k gold-plated, but today merely gold-toned) are yet another orphanage reference, inspired by the key chains worn by caretakers at the convent.

Lagerfeld believed that, “Logos are the Esperanto of marketing, luxury and business today”, which helps explain why most 2.55s produced during his time at the helm of Chanel, through to the present day, are closed with a lock in the shape of the intertwined double-C. Older 2.55s, however, are fastened more subtly with what’s known as the “mademoiselle” rectangular turn-lock, its name a nod to Coco Chanel’s lifelong unmarried status.