Coco Chanel
Coco
Chanel, by the name of Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, was born on August 19th, 1883,
in Saumur, France—died on January 10th, 1971, in Paris. She became the French
fashion designer who ruled the Parisian haute couture for very nearly six
decades. She brought a revolutionary move in the fashion industry by inspiring
the women of that era to abandon the complicated fashion such as petticoats and
corsets which were common attires of the nineteenth century. Among her
now-classic innovations were the Chanel suit, the quilted purse, costume
jewellery, and the “little black dress.”
Early
life
Chanel
was born in the French countryside. She was born to a poor family where her
mother passed away at an early stage and her father sent her away to an
orphanage. She worked briefly as a shop-girl in her initial career days and
later for her survival she became a café singer. She gradually associated with
a few wealthy men in 1913 and with financial assistance from one of them named
Arthur Capel, she managed to start a small-scaled millinery shop in Deauville,
France, where she also sold simple sportswear, such as jersey sweaters. In no
less than five years with her original jersey fabric, she create a “poor girl”
look that had drawn the attention of influential and affluent ladies looking
for relief from the predominant corseted styles.
Career
Devoted
to her proverb that “luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury,”
Chanel’s designs stressed effortlessness and solace and reformed the style
business. By the late 1920s, Chanel was reportedly worth millions and was
operated by more than 2,000 employees. This was not only limited to her couture
house, it also included the perfume lab, a mill of textile and a jewellery
studio.
In 1921
she created her first fragrance No.5. Later it became one of the most iconic
perfumes in the world today. It was the first fragrance which had the
designer’s name itself and the significance of the number 5 was that Chanel was
advised by a fortune teller that this was her lucky number. Chanel was the
first major designer in her field to introduce a perfume.
Chanel
temporarily shut her couture house in 1939 with the outbreak of World War II. Her
associations with a German diplomat during the Nazi occupation
corrupted her reputation, which forbade her to return to the industry until
1954. She came back with a bang. That year she presented her profoundly copied
suit design: a collarless, braid-trimmed cardigan jacket with a graceful skirt.
She likewise presented bell-bottomed pants and other innovations while always
retaining a clean classic look.
After
her demise in 1971, Chanel’s couture house was driven by a series of designers
including Karl Lagerfeld who has his in house fashion label too. His tenure
(1983–2019) was the longest and o course most influential for all the good
reasons. Chanel’s shrewd and smart comprehension of women’s fashion needs, her
enterprising ambition, and the romantic aspects of her life—her rise from rags
to riches and her sensational love affairs—continued to inspire numerous
biographical books, movies, and theatre-plays, including the 1970 Broadway
melodic Coco featuring Katharine Hepburn.
On 10
January 1971, after returning from a walk with her friend Claude Baillen, Coco
Chanel died on her bed in the Hotel Ritz. Her last words to her maid Celine
were, “You see, this is how you die.”
Let's learn about Charlie Chaplin's view to see the world and get inspired by it:
1. Elegance is refusal.
2. "Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable."
6. I don’t care what you think of me. I don’t think of you at all.
8. You can be gorgeous at thirty, charming at forty, and irresistible for the rest of your life.
9. A woman who doesn’t wear perfume has no future.
10. A woman can be overdressed but never over elegant.
