Coco Chanel, is a French fashion designer and business woman, the creator and founder of Coco Chanel brand. Asone of the most iconic fashion designer in history, She is listed on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, the only fashion designer ever made to that list.
Coco Chanle was credited in the post-World War I era with liberating women from the constraints of the corset another Edwardian scheme of woman`s fashion, and her name is eternally connected with one of the most iconicoutfit essentials in a woman`s wardrobe: The little black dress, as its claimed inventor. But most importantly, both for her and fashion history, she is the creator of Chanel NO.5, the most famous and most sold fragrance in the history, an artificial concotion that has conquered the senses and sensabilities of both men and women around the world.
1883 birth
Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel was born in 1883 to father Albert Chanel, a street vendor, and mother, Eugénie Jeanne Devolle—known as Jeanne—a laundrywoman, in the charity hospital run by the Sisters of Providence (a poorhouse) in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France.
When Gabrielle was 12, her mother died of tuberculosis.
Her father sent his three daughters including Gabrielle to the convent of Aubazine, which ran an orphanage. Its religious order, the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Mary, was "founded to care for the poor and rejected, including running homes for abandoned and orphaned girls". It was in the convent of Aubazine that she learned to sew.
At age eighteen, Chanel, too old to remain at Aubazine, went to live in a boarding house for Catholic girls in the town of Moulins.
When Gabrielle was 12, her mother died of tuberculosis.
Her father sent his three daughters including Gabrielle to the convent of Aubazine, which ran an orphanage. Its religious order, the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Mary, was "founded to care for the poor and rejected, including running homes for abandoned and orphaned girls". It was in the convent of Aubazine that she learned to sew.
At age eighteen, Chanel, too old to remain at Aubazine, went to live in a boarding house for Catholic girls in the town of Moulins.
1910s-1920s: Mistress-Milliner-Couturiere
In Moulins, Chanel found employment as a seamstress, and she also sang in a cabaret frequented by cavalry officers. Chanel made her stage debut singing at a cafe-concert (a popular entertainment venue of the era) in a Moulins pavilion, La Rotonde. She was a poseuse, a performer who entertained the crowd between star turns. The money earned was what they managed to accumulate when the plate was passed. It was at this time that Gabrielle acquired the name "Coco" when she spent her nights singing in the cabaret, often the song, "Who Has Seen Coco?"
It was also in Moulins that Chanel met a young French ex-cavalry officer and textile heir, Étienne Balsan and became one of Balsan's many mistresses. For the next three years, she lived in his château Royallieu near Compiègne, an area known for its wooded equestrian paths and the hunting life.
But then Chanel met Captain Arthur Edward 'Boy' Capel, one of Balsan`s friends, and everything changed.
Capel, a wealthy member of the English upper class, installed Chanel in an apartment in Paris. and it was him who financed her first shops in Deauville as well as in Paris.
But then Chanel met Captain Arthur Edward 'Boy' Capel, one of Balsan`s friends, and everything changed.
Capel, a wealthy member of the English upper class, installed Chanel in an apartment in Paris. and it was him who financed her first shops in Deauville as well as in Paris.
In 1913, with the full support of Capel, Chanel opened her first boutique in Deauville, where she introduced deluxe casual clothing suitable for leisure and sport. The fashions were constructed from humble fabrics such as jersey and tricot, at the time primarily used for men's underwear. The location was a prime one, in the center of town on a fashionable street. Here Chanel sold hats, jackets, sweaters, and the marinière, the sailor blouse. Chanel had the dedicated support of two family members, her sister Antoinette, and her paternal aunt Adrienne, Adrienne and Antoinette were recruited to model Chanel's designs; on a daily basis the two women paraded through the town and on its boardwalks, advertising the Chanel creations.
Then in 1915. Chanel opened another boutique in Biarritz on the Côte Basque, which is close to wealthy Spanish clients. The Biarritz shop was installed not as a storefront, but in a villa opposite the casino.
In 1918, Chanel purchased the building at 31 rue Cambon, in one of the most fashionable districts of Paris.
By 1919, Chanel was registered as a couturière and established her maison de couture at 31 rue Cambon.
In 1921, she opened an early incarnation of a fashion boutique, featuring clothing, hats, and accessories, later expanded to offer jewellery and fragrances. By 1927, Chanel owned five properties on the rue Cambon, buildings numbered 23 to 31.
Then in 1915. Chanel opened another boutique in Biarritz on the Côte Basque, which is close to wealthy Spanish clients. The Biarritz shop was installed not as a storefront, but in a villa opposite the casino.
In 1918, Chanel purchased the building at 31 rue Cambon, in one of the most fashionable districts of Paris.
By 1919, Chanel was registered as a couturière and established her maison de couture at 31 rue Cambon.
In 1921, she opened an early incarnation of a fashion boutique, featuring clothing, hats, and accessories, later expanded to offer jewellery and fragrances. By 1927, Chanel owned five properties on the rue Cambon, buildings numbered 23 to 31.
1930s-1940s: Paris-Hollywood-Paris-Lausanne
In 1931, Chanel met Samuel Goldwyn of MGM studio of Hollywood in Monte Carlo who offered her a million dollars go to work in Hollywood twice a year to design costumes for MGM stars. Chanel accepted the offer and designed the clothing worn on screen by Gloria Swanson, in Tonight or Never (1931), and for Ina Claire in The Greeks Had a Word for Them (1932). But her restrained design aesthetics did not translate well to the silver screen, and she left, with a lasting dislike of Hollywood and its culture.
But she went on to design the costumes for several French films, including Jean Renoir's 1939 film La Règle du jeu, in which she was credited as La Maison Chanel.
Although her venture with Hollywood proved to be a failure, her couture business was very successful and by 1935 employing 4,000 people, but the appearance of an Italian woman Elsa Schiaparelli, according to Chanel,``The Italian who designed clothes``, became a great threat for her. Elsa Schiaparelli`s daring and playful style seemed more welcoming than Chanel`s boyish simplicity.
In 1939, shortly after the breaking of World War II, Chanel closed her boutiques as well as her clothing business, so ending her own war Elsa Schiaparelli.
In 1945, after the war ended, Chanel moved to Switzerland and lived there for the rest of the decade.
But she went on to design the costumes for several French films, including Jean Renoir's 1939 film La Règle du jeu, in which she was credited as La Maison Chanel.
Although her venture with Hollywood proved to be a failure, her couture business was very successful and by 1935 employing 4,000 people, but the appearance of an Italian woman Elsa Schiaparelli, according to Chanel,``The Italian who designed clothes``, became a great threat for her. Elsa Schiaparelli`s daring and playful style seemed more welcoming than Chanel`s boyish simplicity.
In 1939, shortly after the breaking of World War II, Chanel closed her boutiques as well as her clothing business, so ending her own war Elsa Schiaparelli.
In 1945, after the war ended, Chanel moved to Switzerland and lived there for the rest of the decade.
1954-1970: revival
In 1954, after a long 15 year of pause, Chanel reopened her business. She chose February 5th as the date of her coming back as she has always believed no. 5 as her lucky number.
Though Chanel herself echoed the theory that fashions are never revived, it is a tribute to her rare and remarkable practicality, and an anomaly in the annals of recorded fashion, that few of her innovations became dated. With each season she watched, like Nature's seeds, her past creativity flowering anew, barely hidden behind the vague alter- ations of less talented designers.”
— Cecil Beaton, The Glass of Fashion
1971 death
On 10 January 1971, Coco Chanel died in her suite in Hotel Ritz at 15 Place Vendome in Paris.
les minijupes et les jeans son ignobles"
("Miniskirts and jeans can be ignored.")
-Coco Chanel