Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was born in France in 1883. In 1910, set her up in a small shop on the rue Cambon in Paris selling hats. In the 1920's Chanel really made her name creating some of the most innovative dresses in the world for some of the most discerning clients. The Chanel "little black dress" is universally known. In 1921 the world was given Chanel No 5 by Coco. Today Chanel is one of the most recognised name in the fashion world.
Gabrielle was born on August l9th 1883 in the hospital for the poor in the French village of Saumur. Her birth certificate was mistakenly written "Chasnel" which made it easier for her to erase her actual history later on when she became famous and wanted to forget her poor beginnings. When she was 12, her mother died and her father who was a travelling wine peddler, left her and her sister in a convent and disappeared forever. The convent was a sad experience for 6 years, for poor girls kept apart from the paying girls, wore a different uniform and were looked down on. A friend said much later that Coco was trying to put all the world's women into the uniform she wore then, a black dress with white collar. At 18 she left the convent and worked in a tailoring shop but she aspired to be a music hall performer and tried singing for a while. Her nickname "Coco" came from a song she sang at this time about a little dog, although she later said it was a pet name used by her father for her. Although small, the Auvernois town where Chanel tried to launch her singing career, did have some compensations, among them a fashionable and aristocratic cavalry regiment. One of the regiment's officers, Etienne Balsan, a sportsman and horse breeder, soon noticed the young "Coco" and she became his mistress and went to live in his chateau at the age of 25. Balsan's home was a magnet for his numerous hunting friends and their fashionable mistresses. As she started acquiring a foothold in this grand milieu, the young Coco attracted attention, not only for her bearing on a horse and her game courage but also for her striking defiant beauty. She made and wore very attractive hats far from the huge decorated hats worn by other women. These were small and chic and women admired and asked for copies. So in 1908 Chanel began selling these simply decorated hats from Balsan's ground floor Paris apartment. Arthur "boy" Capel was a member of Balsan's circle, and he was the only one who worked for a living. Chanel became infatuated with him. As a businessman, he recognized a potential business- woman in Chanel and in 1910, set her up in a small shop on the rue Cambon in Paris. Since there was already a couture shop in the building, her lease forbade her to also make couture dresses, but since jersey material was not considered couture dress material and making clothes of jersey would not affect her lease, she started using this material (up till then used only by French fishermen) to make simple navy jersey dresses. In 1911 and 1912, rich ladies came to Deauville and Biarritz, the resort towns, for the races and the women vied to out do each other with frills, flounces, huge hats, tight corsets, long skirts and everything that Chanel detested. She and Capel both suspected that Chanel could dress others just as well as she could dress herself and so in 1913 they set up shops and Chanel courted the ladies with her revolutionary clothes. Little did they all know that within a year Deauville would be within earshot of the guns on the front lines of World War I, which would change this "belle epoch" and it's fashions forever. Chanel was going to be part of a fashion revolution, not just in the radical simplicity of her style but even in the materials she used to achieve it and particularly the accessories she used. Jersey was a flexible silky material which clung to the body, a controversial choice for high fashion. Just as controversial was the length of her hemline, which made a woman's ankles visible. With jersey , Chanel declared, I have liberated the body. At that time, she said "you have to be light, quick, to run to catch a bus or a taxi, and in 1905 or 1910 you could not take two steps in the street. Her understanding of the sort of relationship that should be there between a woman and fashion, was unique to Chanel. She was completely modern in this respect. During the War years, she moved into a larger shop on rue Cambon, across from the Ritz hotel. She started selling flannel blazers, straight linen skirts, sailor tops, long jersey sweaters and skirt-jacket Her suits even before 1920, had above-the-ankle skirts, three-quarter length coats loosely belted to reveal blouses that matched the jacket lining. She cut her hair into a short bob, wore small hats and a sun tan, and ensured that she herself was the best advertisement for her style. Her simple styles reflected a general wartime sobriety throughout France. The War effort and the participation it required of women necessitated practical clothing and Chanel's new-found freedom of movement and image was not about to be cancelled out when the peace came. Chanel had instinctively grasped the essence of the new epoch which would crown her as its leader. Later on she would say that she was the lone pioneer of simplicity at this time. This is not strictly true, but for the standard and spirit of that time, she is one remembered and that is the important thing. What Chanel understood was the importance of a name and it's promotion. She had a problem because when she was just getting going in 1911 or 1912, she was a woman of 28 who had a life which could not be investigated too closely. She had never been a young girl in Paris wearing chic clothes,. She had lovers, had been kept and had many secrets. So she careful covered up her personal history as far as she was able.
She repaid Capel's investment but still needed his love but unfortunately this was denied her, as he was killed in a car accident on Christmas Eve 1919. She said later that this was the year she became famous and the year she lost everything. Harpers Bazaar started mentioning her in 1915 and by 1917 said that "Chanel's name is on the lips of every buyer. In her salon at 31 rue Cambon, she piled cushions of feathers, fur and metallic fabrics on the sofas in the gray and amber salons and showed increasingly simple day dress-and-coat ensembles, often in "biscuit" jersey (later called beige) as well as black evening dresses in lace or jet-embroidered tulle. In 1916 Vogue mentioned "Gabrielle Chanel, known the world over for her sports frocks, is this season making evening gowns - a straight chemise of black charmeuse, embroidered with gold irises from waist to hem ."
Who Wears It
Catherine Deneuve, current Chanel No. 5 spokesmodel Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Aniston, and Scarlett Johansson.
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