Coco Chanel, 1920

AN OVERVIEW

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 Coco Chanel

Among the key designers who made a bold and lasting

impression on women's fashion in the twentieth century, Gabrielle
"Coco" Chanel (1883–1971) deserves special recognition. Born in
Saumur, in the Loire Valley of France, Chanel survived an
impoverished childhood and strict convent education. The difficulties of
her early life inspired her to pursue a radically different lifestyle, first
on the stage, where she acquired the nickname "Coco," and then as a
milliner.

With the help of one of the male admirers who would provide
key financial assistance and social connections over the course of her
career, Chanel opened her first shop in Paris in 1913, followed by
another in the resort town of Deauville. Selling hats and a limited line
of garments, Chanel's shops developed a dedicated clientele who
quickly made her practical sportswear a great success. Much of
Chanel's clothing was made of jersey, a choice of fabric both unusual
and inspired. Until the designer began to work with it, jersey was more
commonly used for men's underwear. With her financial situation
precarious in the early years of her design career, Chanel purchased
jersey primarily for its low cost. The qualities of the fabric, however,
ensured that the designer would continue to use it long after her
business became profitable. The fabric draped well and suited Chanel's
designs, which were simple, practical, and often inspired by men's
wear, especially the uniforms prevalent when World War I broke out in
1914.

As her fashion-conscious customers fled Paris at the beginning of

the war, Chanel's boutiques in Deauville and Biarritz flourished.
Chanel's uncluttered styles, with their boxy lines and shortened skirts,

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allowed women to leave their corsets behind and freed them for the
practical activities made necessary by the war. Elements of these early
designs became hallmarks of the Chanel look. Chanel took great pride
as a woman in designing for other women, and by 1919, at the age of
thirty-two, she enjoyed huge success, with clients around the world.
Soon after, she relocated her couture house in Paris to 31 Rue
Cambon, which remains the center of operations for the House of
Chanel today.

Chanel's own lifestyle fueled her ideas of how modern women

everywhere should look, act, and dress. Her own slim boyish figure
and cropped hair became an ideal, as did her tanned skin, active
lifestyle, and financial independence. Throughout her career, Chanel
succeeded in packaging and marketing her own personal attitudes and
style, making her a key arbiter of women's taste throughout the
twentieth century.

The designer's passionate interests inspired her fashions. Her

apartment and her clothing followed her favorite color palette, shades
of beige, black, and white. Elements from her art collection and
theatrical interests likewise provided themes for her collections. When
Chanel attended a masquerade ball dressed as a figure from a
Watteau painting, she later reworked the costume into a woman's suit.
She hired Russian émigrés from her circle of friends to work in her
embroidery workshop, creating designs to her exacting specifications.
Known for a relentless drive for perfection, whether in design or fit,
and strong opinions in all matters of taste, Chanel backed her clothing
with the authority of her personal conviction.

Chanel continued to create successful looks for women through

the 1920s and '30s. In 1926, American Vogue likened Chanel's "little

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black dress" to the Ford, alluding to its almost universal popularity as a
fashion basic. In fact, the concept of the dress suitable for day and
evening did become both a staple for Chanel throughout subsequent
seasons and a classic piece of twentieth-century women's wear. The
designer also used colorful feminine printed chiffons in her daywear
designs. Evening ensembles followed the long slim line for which the
designer was known, but also incorporated tulle, lace, and decorative
elements that soften and romanticize the overall look of the garment.

Despite her great success, Chanel closed the doors of her salon
in 1939, when France declared war on Germany. Other couturiers left
the country, but Chanel endured the war in Paris, her future uncertain.

Following the end of the hostilities and resolution of some

personal difficulties, Chanel found she could not idly stand by and
observe the early success of Christian Dior, whose "New Look"
prevailed in the postwar period. While many admired Dior's celebration
of femininity, with full skirts and nipped-in waists, Chanel felt his
designs were neither modern nor suitable for the liberated women who
had survived another war by taking on active roles in society. Just as
she had following World War I, Chanel set out to rescue and
reinvigorates women's fashion.

The designer faced challenges in this endeavor: securing

finances, assembling a new staff, seeking out new fabrics, competing
at age seventy against a new generation of designers. Chanel's
comeback collection of couture debuted in 1954. Although it was not a
critical success, the designer persevered. Within three seasons, Chanel
was enjoying newfound respect. She updated her classic looks,
reworking the classic tweed designs until wealthy women and
celebrities returned to the showroom in droves. The Chanel suit

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became a status symbol for a new generation, made of solid or tweed
fabric, with its slim skirt and collarless jacket trimmed in braid, gold
buttons, patch pockets, and—sewn into the hem—a gold-colored chain
ensuring it hung properly from the shoulders. Chanel also reintroduced
her handbags, jewelry, and shoes with great success in subsequent
seasons.

Following Chanel's death in 1971, several of her assistants

designed the couture and ready-to-wear lines until Karl Lagerfeld
(born 1938) took over the haute couture design in 1983 and ready-to-
wear in 1984. Lagerfeld, like Chanel at the time of her comeback,
looked to past designs for the secret to his success. His designs
incorporated signature Chanel details, tweed fabrics, colors, gold
chains, quilt-stitched leather, and the linked "CC" logo. In later
collections, Lagerfeld became more irreverent, deconstructing some of
the ladylike polish of Chanel's 1960s looks. Playing with the fact that
Chanel's favorite jersey fabric had been used for men's underwear at
the turn of the twentieth century, Lagerfeld even incorporated men's
T-shirts and briefs into his designs. Nonetheless, Lagerfeld's ability to
continuously mine the Chanel archive for inspiration testifies to the
importance of Gabrielle Chanel's contributions to women's fashion in
the twentieth century.

BIOGRAPHY

I am Coco Chanel. I love myself.

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 The Biography of Coco Chanel is a reflection of one of the most
powerful and fascinating entrepreneurs of the 20th century, and also
one of the most famous women of 20th century.

Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel

(1883 – 1971)

I. Life

Chanel was born on August 20, 1883 in Saumur, France, as a

second child of an unmarried couple. Her father, Albert Chanel, was a
small-wares peddler; her mother, Jeanne Devolle, came from a family
of a peasant. Coco was born in a peasant village. Her birth was
recorded the following day. Two employees of the hospital went to city
hall and declared the child female. The hospice employees were
illiterate, so when the mayor François Poitu wrote down the birth, no
one knew how to spell Chanel so the mayor improvised and recorded it
with an "s," making it Chasnel. This misspelling made the tracing of
her roots almost impossible for biographers when Chanel later rose to
prominence.

Chanel described her childhood somewhat differently than others

remembered it. She made up things. She claimed she was an only
child even though her mother gave birth to four more children and
that her birth year was on 1893 instead of the recorded 1883.
Gabrielle and her older sister Julie were the illegitimate daughters of
Albert Chanel and Jeanne Devolle. They married after Gabrielle's birth,
in 1883. After they were married, they managed to have three more

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children, Alphonse, Antoinette, and Lucien. In February 1895, Jeanne's
health finally gave out. She was found dead at the age of thirty-two
and Chanel was just six years old, and it wouldn’t be long before her
father also abandoned her. Averse to fatherhood, he quickly ran off
and left the young Chanel and her four siblings to fend for themselves
on the streets of France. They went to live with their two aunts in
Auvergne. This is where Chanel first met her aunt Adrienne, her
mother’s younger sister. They were the same age and the best of
friends. They were so close people often mistook them for sisters.
According to Chanel’s version of her life story, her mother worked in
the poorhouse where Gabrielle was born, and died when Gabrielle was
only six, leaving her father with five children whom he promptly
abandoned to the care of relatives.

Living with her aunts, Chanel was taught how to be a polite little
girl, to sit up straight and to learn how to sew. She took an early liking
to sewing and instead of playing with dolls, spent much time dressing
them in material she had cut from curtains. She also spent her time
playing sports and horseback riding, atypical activities for a girl of that
time. But, Chanel didn’t have the opportunities of most other children
and her childhood would soon be interrupted once again.

When she was 17 years old, Chanel was sent to an Aubazine

orphanage, the Etienne d' Aubazine, where nuns took over as her
primary caregivers. Supportive of her efforts as a seamstress, the
nuns helped Chanel get a local job to build her talents but then there
was no future, at that time, for a poor girl brought up by the charity.
But the dream for escape was made in her mind at this early age.
Never in her life would Coco Chanel mention her younger years spent

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in orphanage. She would work relentlessly to erase all the traces of the
unhappy fate that had been meant for her.

Chanel never spoke about her life at Aubazine, the orphanage at

which she and her sisters were placed. When asked about this part of
her childhood, Gabrielle would simply say that she lived with many
aunts that she insisted did not like her. In a later quote Gabrielle
stated:

I've been ungrateful toward the odious aunts. I owe them

everything. A child in revolt becomes a person with armor and
strength. It's the kisses, caresses, teachers, and vitamins that
kill children and turn them into unhappy or sickly adults. It's the
mean and the nasty aunts who create whinners, and give them
inferiority complexes, although in my case the result was a
superiority complex. Under nastiness looms strength, under
pride a taste for success and a passion for grandeur.

Several years passed at school before the young girl tried to

make a start. When Gabrielle was too old to return to Aubazine, she
and Julie were placed in a boarding school in Moulins, France. When
Gabrielle was twenty, she joined Adrienne as a shop assistant who
worked in a small but busy boutique named The House of Grampayne.

The summer she turned twenty-one, Chanel moved into her own
apartment in Moulins. Adrienne joined Chanel. That summer Chanel
and Adrienne began dating lieutenants who happened to need last
minute alterations on the day that Gabrielle was working in the shop.
The lieutenants took them to La Rotonde, a famous opera house. No

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one knows if it was the persuasion of the lieutenants or the essence of
Chanel, but the director of La Rotonde hired her as a singer. Chanel
was bored with the simplicity of her surroundings and decided to
pursue a life of excitement and stardom. Later she tried to sing and
dance, with an idea to make a career in the theatre. One of the songs
Chanel sang was about a lady who lost her dog named "Coco." The
nickname "Coco" had been given to her by her audience for her songs
“Ko Ko Ri Ko” – a title song of a revue by playwright Robert de Flers
that was a smash hit in Paris in 1890s. Thus Gabrielle became "Coco".

While singing didn’t prove to be Chanel’s forte, the experience

was valuable in that it introduced her to Etienne Balsan, a rich French
playboy and textile heir who took a liking to the young aspiring singer.
Chanel soon found herself as a mistress to Balsan and living a
luxurious life. Balsan lavished on her the beauties of "the rich life:"
diamonds, dresses and pearls. In France, mistresses have been
acknowledged for centuries among the wealthy, though the members
of the occupation, such as Chanel, were perhaps unfairly disparaged in
private as upper-class prostitutes. While living with Balsan, Chanel
began designing hats as a hobby, which soon became a deeper
interest of hers. After opening her eyes, as she would say, Coco left
Balsan and took over his apartment in Paris. She opened up a small
boutique with just two teenage girls as employees and sold a range of
fashionable raincoats and jackets; Chanel’s first venture into the world
of fashion proved successful. She became one of the popular go-to
ladies for the well to do of Paris.

As Chanel gained success in her career, she purchased an

elegant home on the rue du Faubourg St.-Honore with gardens

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opening to the avenue. The house was in fact classed as a "monument
historique" by the government (Picken, 91). Decorating her home in
purely elegant shades of white, beige, and brow, it was here that Coco
entertained the elite social circle to which she belonged. Many of
Chanel's guests were artists and musicians, including Stravinsky,
Picasso, Cocteau, and Jose Maria Sert among others. Her library is
famous for many of the original manuscripts given to Coco by these
artists and musicians.

It wasn’t long before Chanel moved on to bigger and brighter

things, turning her single little store into one of the most powerful
empires in the fashion industry. The shop was situated in the heart of
Paris and it wasn't long before the shop went out of business and
Chanel was asked to surrender her properties. This did not discourage
her; it only made her more determined.

During the pre-war era, Chanel met up with an estranged and

former best friend of Étienne Balsan, Arthur "Boy" Capel, with whom
she soon fell in love. With his assistance, Chanel was able to acquire
the property and financial backing to open her second millinery shop in
Brittany. Her hats were worn by celebrated French actresses, which
helped to establish her reputation. In 1913, Chanel introduced
women’s sportswear at her new boutique in Deauville, in the Rue
Gontaut-Biron; Marthe, Countess de Gontaut-Biron (daughter of
American diplomat John George Alexander Leishman), was Chanel's
first aristocratic client. Her third shop and successor to her biggest
store in France was located in Deauville, where more women during
the World War I era came to accept her view that women were
supposed to dress for themselves and not their men.

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 In no more than four years, Chanel’s business had become so
successful that she was able to pay back the startup money she had
initially received from Capel in full – this, despite the fact that it was
given to her as a gift, not a loan. Chanel had broken into the fashion
industry by being a trendsetter, gaining inspiration for her designs
largely from her lover’s closet and using traditionally masculine
materials to make them. Instead of the ornate pieces of her
competitors, Chanel’s creations were minimal and unpretentious yet
still sophisticated. Her “little black dress” quickly became a staple in
the fashion world.

In 1916 Chanel introduced jersey, a soft elasticated knit

previously only used for undergarments, as the new fashion fabric.
Wool jersey produced softer, lighter clothing with uncluttered fluid
lines. She made simple jersey dresses in navy and grey, cut
to flatter the figure rather than to emphasize and distort the natural
body shape. The demand for her new nonconformist designs by the
wealthy was so great and the use of jersey so successful Chanel
extended her range, creating her own jersey fabric designs, which
were manufactured by Rodier.

Highly original in her concept of design, Chanel ceaselessly

borrowed ideas from the malewardrobe, combining masculine tailoring
with women's clothing. Her suits were precise but remain untailored,
with flowing lines, retaining considerable individuality and simple
elegance. Riding breeches, wide-legged trousers, blazers, and
sweaters were all taken and adapted. A major force in introducing and
establishing common sense and understated simplicity into women’s

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wear, Chanel's coordination of the cardigan, worn with a classic
straight skirt, became a standard combination of wearable separates.

Chanel produced her cardigans in tweed and jersey fabrics,

initiating the perennially popular "Chanel suit," which usually consisted
of two or three pieces: a cardigan-style jacket, weighted with her
trademark gilt chain stitched around the inside hem, a simple easy-to-
wear skirt, worn with a blouse (with blouse fabric coordinated with the
jacket lining). Her work offered comfort and streamlined simplicity,
creating clothes for the modern woman, whom she epitomized herself.
The key to her design philosophy was construction, producing
traditional classics outliving each season's new fashion trends
and apparel. While other designers presented new looks for each new
season, Chanel adapted the refined detailing and style lines.

Her colors were predominantly grey, navy, and beige,

incorporating highlights of a richer and broader palette. Chanel
introduced the ever popular "little black dress,"created for daywear,
eveningwear, and cocktail dressing which became a firm fixture in the
fashion world during her tenure, and is still popular today.

While her prominence as a fashion designer was continuing to

grow, it was the release of a product in the 1920s that would
immortalize Chanel. After the death of Capel, Chanel had become
mistress to the Russian Grand Duke Dmitri, through whom she met
Ernest Beaux. Beaux was in the perfume industry and was currently
working on a special concoction for a French company. Chanel sampled
the essence and after making a few suggestions, convinced Beaux to
give it to her instead. With that, the legendary Chanel No. 5 perfume
was born in 1924. The perfume was named after her lucky number
five. Like the "alternative" style of dress that she introduced, her

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perfume signified a marked change in the fragrance market. Not only
was the name Chanel No. 5 simplistic and detached for the time, but
the shape of the bottle itself was highly unique. The plain bottle with
rectangular lines and a cut stopper starkly contrasted the ornate,
romantic fragrance bottles popular at the time. It has been described
as "the world's most legendary fragrance," and ranks on the top places
in the perfumery sales charts. It remains the best-selling fragrance
of Parfums Chanel, and the company estimates that a bottle is sold
worldwide every 30 seconds.

At the same time, Chanel had also been making quite a name for
herself in the inner circles of the elite, having romantic liaisons with
many of the most notable dukes and businessmen of the time.

In 1925, Vera Bate Lombardi, reputedly the illegitimate daughter

of the Marquess of Cambridge, became Chanel's muse, and also her
liaison to a number of European royal families. Chanel established the
English look based upon Lombardi's personal style. Lombardi also had
the highest possible social connections. She introduced Chanel to her
uncle, the Duke of Westminster, her cousin, the Duke of Windsor, and
many other aristocratic families. Coco had affairs with some of the
most influential men of the time, but she never married. The reason
may be found in her answer, when asked why she did not marry
the Duke of Westminster: "There have been several Duchesses of
Westminster. There is only one Chanel." In reference to Chanel, the
Duke of Westminster had her logo (the double C's) built into the posts
in the city of Westminster. But, it was one relationship in particular
that would threaten to destroy Chanel’s career completely.

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 In 1939, at the beginning of World War II, Chanel closed her
shops. She believed that it was not a time for fashion. She lived in the
Hôtel Ritz Paris on and off for more than 30 years, making the hotel
her Paris home even during the German occupation. During that time
she was criticized for having an affair with Hans Gunther von
Dincklage, a German officer and Nazi spy who arranged for her to
remain in the hotel. She also maintained an apartment above her
couture house at 31 rue Cambon and built Villa La Pausa in
Roquebrune on the French Riviera. Her reputation in the public’s eyes
became quickly and irrevocably damaged. She thought her years as a
designer were finished and she stayed out the spotlight. She was 56
years old and she was giving up. Relying primarily on the continuing
sales of her perfume as her income, Chanel became a recluse and tried
as hard as possible to stay out of the public eye. For fifteen years, the
world saw little of Chanel and, except for her name lining the shelves
of perfume departments she had faded into the background.

In 1943, after four years of professional separation, Chanel

contacted Lombardi, who was living in Rome. She invited Lombardi to
come to Paris and renew their work together. This was actually a cover
for "Operation Modellhut", an attempt by Nazi spymaster Walter
Schellenberg to make secret contact with Lombardi's relative Winston
Churchill. When Lombardi refused, she was arrested as a British spy by
the Gestapo. Chanel was later charged as a collaborator, but avoided
trial due to an intervention by the British Royal family.

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 In 1954, Coco launched a successful comeback. She was
supposedly prompted by two motives: first, the sales of her perfume
were falling off, and her financial advisors were of the opinion that a
successful re-opening of her Salons de Couture would give the
perfume sales a boost. The second and probably more telling motive
was that the fashions in favor in 1954 were very similar indeed to
those she had so successfully knocked for six years at the outset of
her career.

Years passed in oblivion; during the pre-war fashion design had

been entirely dominated by women like Chanel, Lanvin, Schiaparelli,
Vionnet. After the war it fell into the hands of men – Balenciaga &
Dior. The success of Christian Dior in the early fifties was seemingly a
confirmation of the fact that there was no way back for Chanel after
the long absence. Dior’s first collection, called the "New Look," was
presented on January 12, 1947. This collection largely featured
dresses with hourglass shapes and wide, full skirts falling well below
the knee Due to her discontentment with this trend, Coco returned to
the world of fashion at the age of seventy-one. It was then that she
introduced her new collection, including her world-renowned Chanel
suit. By 1959, her suit had become the uniform of well-dressed women
around the world. It is reputed that while Coco was dining at Elysee
Palace one evening, President Georges Pompidou of France confided to
her, “I feel comfortable when my wife wears your clothes".

Observing the wide array of products offered by the Chanel line,

including jewelry, makeup, and accessories, it is evident to see how
strongly fashion and society were linked for Coco. As she once stated,
"I did not go into society because I had to design clothes. I designed

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clothes precisely because I did go into society, because I was the first
to live the life of this century".

In 1953 Chanel made a decision to reopen her salon the

following year. She was at that time more than seventy years old. On
February 5, 1954 Coco announced on that she was to have a show of
her first collection since the war. The night of the show Coco did not
appear before her friends; she had watched the mannequins’ parade
from the top of her staircase where she could see without being seen.
She did this because she was afraid the people would not accept her.
The verdict of critics was ferocious. “A fiasco,” was how the Daily Mail
opened their story, but Chanel remained unimpressed by the criticism.

Coco at the age 71 she reopened her shop in Paris. She had
come up with a new suit, the collarless, braid-trimmed suits in jersey
and tweed. Though she had despised all jewelry in her younger days,
she now loaded down her suits with bracelets and strands of pearls.

Americans couldn't buy her suits fast enough. Six months later,
after the reopening of her shop at the "Next Collection," they
perceived that America yearned for nothing so much as to rediscover
the woman whom a public of connoisseurs was already familiarly
addressing as "Coco".

Throughout the years, Coco Chanel continued to be an icon to

many women and men alike, largely because she embodied femininity
and beauty, yet remained truly independent and successful in her own
right. Although Chanel passed away twenty-five years ago, the fashion
house she started is more successful than ever. As DiGiacomo states,
"The mythology surrounding Chanel says that the fashion designer
from Saumur liberated women from unwielding hats and form-

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choking clothes, pioneered designer fragrance, made suntans,
and after a fourteen year self-imposed exile, returned to rock
the fashion world with her Chanel suit." Coco was a woman ahead
of her times, and her reputation for style has prevailed long after her
actual life. Coco Chanel's longevity as a prominent fashion designer
and respected icon can best be summed up by a statement she herself
once made -- "Fashion passes, style remains."

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel quietly passed away at the Ritz Hotel on

the night of January 10, 1971, her legacy and contributions to the
world of fashion continue to live on. Below is a copy of the obituary for
Coco Chanel which ran in the New York Times at the time of her
death:

January 11, 1971

THE NEW YORK TIMES OBITUARY

Chanel, the Couturier, Dead in Paris

“PARIS, Jan. 10 (1971) --Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel, one of the greatest

couturiers of the 20th century, died tonight in her apartment at the
Ritz Hotel. She was 87 years old.

The death of Coco, as she was known the world over, was announced
by close friends. They said that her death came peacefully and that
nothing in recent days had indicated she was in bad health. The cause
of death was not immediately known.

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Her friends said that a chambermaid discovered that Coco was ill and
called a physician.

Coco's death occurred as she was working on her collection to be

presented in the spring fashion shows this month.

Her life story was turned into a musical, "Coco," which ran on
Broadway last year starring Katherine Hepburn in her first singing and
dancing role. Miss Hepburn, 60 at the time the show opened, was
termed "too old" for the part by the tart-tongued Coco, who was 86.

In addition to Chanel philosophy, the show featured many models

parading in the popular fashions Chanel designed through her long
career.

Chanel dominated the Paris fashion world in the nineteen-twenties and

at the height of her career was running four business enterprises--a
fashion house, a textile business, perfume laboratories and a
workshop for costume jewelry--that altogether employed 3,500
workers.

It was perhaps her perfume more than her fashions that made the
name Chanel famous around the world. Called simply "Chanel No. 5"--
she had been told by a fortune-teller that five was her lucky number--
it made Coco a millionaire.”

After her death Karl Lagarfeld obtained rights to design for the
House of Chanel. Today Lagarfeld still shows for Chanel.

And still, to this day women all over the world are purchasing the
"little black dress" and the tweed suits which Coco made famous. Her

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styles impacted feminine attire throughout her career and after her
death. Her fashion still lives on even though she may not.

II. The Five Success Lessons from Coco Chanel

Lesson #1: Be One of a Kind

“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be

different,” said Chanel. “People laughed at the way I dressed,
but that was the secret of my success: I didn’t look like
anyone.”

With that opinion, Chanel set out to bring her unique vision to
the fashion industry. She was a resourceful woman who tried to bring
her creativity to her products in a distinctive way. For instance, Chanel
grew tired of holding her purse and became the first designer to ever
attach a chain to a purse. A fashion faux pas at the time, it was only a
matter of time before Chanel’s invention had become the latest fashion
trend. Soon, more purses than not would have chains and straps
attached thanks to Chanel’s unique vision.

It was Chanel who introduced the world to numerous fashion

trends that were unheard of at the time, but which soon became the
industry standard. When she wanted a shoe that would flatter her foot
and give the appearance of a longer leg, Chanel created her famous
two-tone sling-back, a shoe that was tan at the foot but black at the
toe. This had never been done before and it took a visionary like
Chanel to see that it was possible.

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 It was this kind of problem-solving that Chanel brought to all of
her product lines that allowed her to be so successful. Her designs
weren’t like all the others; they were unique, they were simple, and
they were practical. Chanel introduced the women of the world to the
sailor blouse, stretch jerseys, costume jewelry, cashmere cardigans,
chic waterproof raincoats, and most famously, the ‘little black dress’,
which even today remains a basic necessity in almost every woman’s
wardrobe.

Chanel was an innovative force in the fashion industry

despite the fact that she felt the constantly changing nature of
fashion trends was a little on the ridiculous side. “Innovation!
One cannot be forever innovating,” she exclaimed. “I want to create
classics.”

By creating classic pieces that were nonetheless unique, Chanel

was able to become not only a mainstay in the fashion industry but
also one of the most powerful guiding forces behind the latest fashion
trends.

Lesson #2: Be Bold

“In fashion, you know you have succeeded when there is

an element of upset,” said Chanel.

When Chanel first introduced her jersey and tweed suits for
women, she was rebuked by the European critics. But, Chanel gave no
matter. From day one, her career had been characterized by her
willingness to defy convention time after time. Whether it was through

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her own personal style or the products she designed, Chanel was
audacious and paid no attention to those who didn’t see eye to eye
with her vision. “The most courageous act is still to think for yourself,”
she said, “aloud!”
She created her signature scarlet lipstick before such a colour
was ever envisioned for a proper lady’s lips; she wore open-necked
shirts when everyone else was buttoning theirs up; and she wore
trousers that showed off her ankles which only men had been able to
do before. “Success is often achieved by those who don't know that
failure is inevitable,” said Chanel. She ignored the critics and continued
embodying her bold vision of fashion and femininity.

During the First World War, when Chanel was just starting to
grow in prominence, she ran into trouble. Fabric supplies were running
low the world over and she did not know how she was going to
continue designing her clothes. She could have given up, closed down
her business, waited for the war to end and hoped that she could
begin anew afterwards. But, giving up was not in Chanel’s nature.

Because Chanel had always loved wearing men’s clothing and

borrowing clothes from her partners’ closets, she came up with a bold
new idea to use jersey to make women’s dresses. Before Chanel,
jersey was a fabric whose use was limited to men’s underwear. It was
unthinkable that the same material that was used to create men’s
underwear should be used to make fashionable dresses for proper
ladies – unthinkable to everyone but Chanel, that is. She was willing to
take that bold first step and soon, her jersey dresses were all the
rage.

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 “How many cares one loses when one decides not to be
something but to be someone,” said Chanel. When she accidentally
singed her hair, instead of worrying, Chanel boldly decided to chop it
all off. Would her new hairstyle ruin her image of femininity and class?
She wasn’t worried. She showed up to an opera with her
radically short tomboyish hair and almost immediately, she had
created the latest fashion trend. The next day, women everywhere
were going to hairdressers to demand this new hairstyle, called the
‘bob’.

“I’ve never done anything by halves,” said Chanel. Her career

was characterized by a willingness to be bold, to take risks, to defy
convention and to challenge stereotypes. She ignored society’s rules
and created a style all her own. It was her readiness to be daring and
follow her own path that set Chanel apart from her competitors and
attracted loyal customers the world over. She offered women exciting
new propositions and in opening the door to a new world of fashion
freedom, Chanel turned the industry on its head.

Lesson #3: Be Inspired

“Fashion is not simply a matter of clothes,” said Chanel.

“Fashion is in the air, born upon the wind. One intuits it. It is in
the sky and on the road.”

Chanel’s fame came almost as much from her personal exploits

and relationships as it did from her designs. From Picasso to Salvador
Dali to Stravinsky to Diaghilev, Chanel became a companion to many
of the most powerful and talented men of her time. But, she wasn’t

22
just idling her time away in their company. Instead, Chanel was using
them for the inspiration they were providing her.

During the 1930s, Chanel came as close as she ever would to

marrying. She was the mistress to the Duke of Westminster, one of
Europe’s richest men, and was due to marry him but in classic Chanel
style, she changed her mind, explaining, “There have been several
Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Chanel.” But, it was
during her time with the Duke that Chanel got her inspiration for her
soft-belted coat, tweed jackets and blazers, sailor sweaters and cuff-
linked shirts. She had borrowed his wardrobe to create a sense of style
all her own.

Chanel also sought inspiration from the natural environment

around her. She had an enduring love for the camellia, a large,
delicate flower whose leaves are simple and arranged in an alternate
pattern. She became infamous for trying to immortalize the flower in
fabric and for wearing a white camellia herself on many occasions. The
camellia is said to represent radiance and purity and was soon being
placed on Chanel bags, belts and jewelry, in addition to clothes. This
simple flower would become one of Chanel’s classic trademarks.

Throughout most of her career, Chanel made her home in her

beloved Ritz Paris, in which her suite continues to be named after her
to this day. Her view overlooked the Place Vendôme, a hexagonal open
area in the centre of Paris. It was this shape that inspired many of
Chanel’s creations, including numerous watch faces as well as the
stopper for the Chanel No.5 perfume bottle.

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 “A fashion that does not reach the streets is not a fashion,”
Chanel once said. Not only did Chanel bring her fashion to the streets,
but she was also able to take fashion up from the streets, using the
personality of a city and its natural environment to inspire her
creations. The simplicity of this approach was a large part of their
appeal; a simple flower on the side of a handbag would bring more
elegance than a thousand tiny frills and laces. Chanel understood that
message and made it the basis of all her creations. She took the
beauty from the world around her and transformed it into beautiful
products that could sell.

Lesson #4: Leave a Strong Impression

“Dress shabbily and they remember the dress,” said

Chanel. “Dress impeccably and they remember the woman…
It’s best to be as pretty as possible for destiny.” Chanel
understood the importance of appearance to getting ahead in the
business world. Looking her best wasn’t just a matter of wanting to
feel feminine or being attractive for Chanel, it was also a way to gain
respect.

It takes 30 seconds to make a first impression. Chanel believed

that time must be filled with elegance and class. She wanted women
to be beautiful so that they could become someone and to do
something important.

Lesson #5: Never Give Up

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 During the World War II Chanel had to shut down her fashion
business, but she never lost faith in herself. Despite having to
overcome her age and her ruined reputation, she was able to make a
comeback in the industry at the age of 71. She reinvented her designs
and made her company a leader once again.

III. Personality

Although Chanel can appear freewheeling, independent, and, at

times, inconsistent, at heart she is very loyal and constant – Coco
Chanel possesses a certain steadiness and firmness of will that may
not be obvious to others until they get to know Coco well.

Proud and intensely individual, Coco Chanel really wants to stand

out, to be the very best she can be, and to be recognized and
appreciated for her unique contributions. Doing something well and
being respected for it is extremely important to her, and she cannot
tolerate being relegated to the background, taking orders from others,
or being "just one of the team". Coco Chanel must put her personal
stamp on whatever she does, and direct her own course in life. Coco
Chanel needs to have a place where she can shine, express herself
creatively, and be the one in charge.

Coco has big dreams and the determination, spirit, vitality and
enthusiasm to realize them. Coco Chanel also has a noble, romantic
heart, and a love of the dramatic, colorful, and extravagant.

For Coco Chanel, it is true that "the entire world's a stage" and
she secretly (or perhaps not so secretly) desires to be the star or
hero of the play. Coco wants to be great and to receive the love and

25
applause of an adoring audience, even if the "audience" is just one
other special person. She needs someone to believe in her and her
dreams. Though Chanel appears radiantly self-confident and
independent, she is actually very dependent on the affirmation, love
and recognition of others. She cannot bear going unnoticed or
unappreciated.

Coco Chanel also loves wholeheartedly and generously and

really knows how to make the person she loves feel special. Coco
Chanel loves the magic of "being in love" and knows how to keep
the romance alive in her relationships. She is also immensely loyal
and will defend her loved ones and stand by them to the end - as
long as they never offend her pride or betray her trust. However,
Coco Chanel likes to be the strong one in her relationships and she
really does not share the leading role very easily. Ideally, Coco
needs to find a person who is as strong-willed as she is, but who will
not try to dominate or compete with her.

Chanel's strengths are her zest and love for life, her creative
power and her warm and generous heart. Her primary fault is her
tendency to be very egocentric, and so concerned with the
impression she is making and with her own creative self-expression
that she forgets there is another, larger world that does not revolve
around her.

Coco Chanel craves intense experiences and is attracted to

aspects of life that are strange, unfathomable, or taboo. She may
hide her interests or inclinations, except from those who know Coco
very intimately. Coco Chanel is rarely content with herself and her
life, and she has an inner urge to be continually going farther or
deeper than her ever have before. Coco has also a strong interest in

26
social power and the role that money and economics play in people's
lives.

Chanel can be an inspiring leader of a team or group effort.

Her dynamism and energy evokes the same in others, and she sees
healthy competition between people as a plus. Generally, Coco
Chanel enjoys fine health as well.

She is intensely willful, zealous, and fanatical though Coco often

hides the intensity of her feelings and her personal motives and
desires. Chanel is infatuated with power and has an almost compulsive
desire for personal recognition and the desire to be "somebody". Coco
Chanel tends to worship heroes who have powerful personal
magnetism and charisma and often seeks to emulate them. Coco
Chanel both fears, and is intensely fascinated with, death and the
hidden, secret, dark side of life.

IV. Coco Chanel Fast Facts

• Born: Saumur, France, 19 August 1883.

• Education: At convent orphanage, Aubazine, 1895-1900;
convent school, Moulins, 1900-02.
• Exhibitions: Les Grands Couturiers Parisiens 1910-1939, Musée
du Costume, Paris, 1965;Fashion: An Anthology, Victoria &
Albert Museum, London, 1971; The Tens, Twenties &
Thirties, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1977; Folies de
dentelles: Balenciaga, Cardin, Chanel, Dior…Exposition du 24
juin au octobre 2000, Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la dentelle,
2000.
• Awards: Neiman Marcus award, Dallas, 1957; Sunday
Times International Fashion award, London, 1963.
• Died: 10 January 1971, in Paris.
• Company Address: 29-31 rue Cambon, 75001 Paris, France.
• Company Website:www.chanel.com.

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 SIGNIFICANT CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCE

FAMILY

Gabrielle Chanel was born in France, on August 19, 1883. The

Chanel family did not have money, and they lived in a poor house in a
narrow street. In the big cities of France, the industrial revolution had
brought about a modern lifestyle, but the Chanels did not live in a
modern city. When Chanel was six, her mother died, and her father
disappeared. She had two sisters and two brothers, and she and her
sisters live with their aunts, and her brothers went to a farm and
became child laborers. Chanel and her sisters stayed with their aunts
for a short time until Coco was sent to the orphanage. She was a
fierce, pretty, and restless girl, and she knew that she was different
from others.

Coco Chanel, moving from one home to another in her

childhood, desired a husband and a family. Chanel never married and
never had children. Chanel's fashion creations revolutionized and set
the standard for the fashion industry. She forever changed the way
women looked and the way women looked at themselves.

Chanel experienced a traumatic early childhood with the death of

her mother and the subsequent abandonment by her father shortly
thereafter. Her childhood was spent in Auvergne, France where she
was raised by two aunts. It was her aunts who taught Coco that little
girls should be polite, sit up straight, and learn to sew. Ironically,
sewing remained a skill that forever eluded her. As an unusually
intelligent child, however, Gabrielle demonstrated her talents in

28
fashion at an early age, such as dressing her dolls in curtains which
she cut into pieces of material. Unlike most girls her age, Chanel also
enjoyed participating in outdoor sports and had a particular zeal for
horseback riding. As a result, her slender and muscular silhouette
resembled that of a young boy's. Gabrielle's passion for horseback
riding continued on into adulthood, when she would often awaken at
the crack of dawn to ride.

At the age of seventeen, Chanel was brought to live with the

nuns in the Aubazine orphanage. There she developed feelings of
loneliness and mental anguish. These themes would be with her
throughout her adult life. The young Chanel desired nothing more in
life than marriage and the love of a husband. Perhaps it was the lack
of a "classic" familial system that caused these unfulfilled dreams.

~*~

FRIENDS

In her inner circle of friends, fashion designer Coco Chanel was

known as ‘Mademoiselle’. Over her fifty-odd year career of running her
own business, she came to be considered as the ‘Grande
Mademoiselle’ of both the fashion industry and high society. Coco
Chanel not only revolutionized what women wore, but also the
roles they were supposed to play in society.

Her friends were rarely mentioned in her biography aside from

her sister, Julie, and her closest aunt Adrienne – no other friends were
mentioned on account of Chanel.

Chanel’s primary mission all throughout the course of her career

was to free women from incarcerating themselves in corseted dresses

29
and feathered-hats – and this did not only please her friends but all
the women who had heard of Chanel’s works.

Through her clothes, Chanel wanted to celebrate the freedom

and equality of women. By playing with simple designs and typically
‘masculine’ fabrics, she offered an alternative to the more constraining
women’s fashion at the time. By the mid-1920s, corsets were out; a
popular ‘Chanel look’ had been adopted, consisting of a wool jersey
suit with a full-cut, short skirt, and a straight, collarless jacket.

The designer herself was the embodiment of this new look. By

using unconventional models and appealing to fashion magazines, the
designer forced the fashion industry to accept her more masculine
designs. She was no longer simply about creating stylish hats and
designer threads. She had done something bigger – she had created a
new way of life, and in so doing, laid the foundation for the coming
women’s liberation.

~*~

SCHOOL

There was no record that Coco Chanel had any formal education.
She only had basic education at an orphanage called Etienne d'
Aubazine wherein they were taught 6 days a week on how to sew. She
learned how to become a basic seamstress at this school. Throughout
her stay it was said that Chanel was filled with determinism and an
initiative to learn.

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 INFLUENCES IN LEADERSHIP

Jeanne Devolle (Mother)

- Although Coco Chanel was orphaned at a young age it was said that
one of the people who influenced her to become a successful
businesswoman was her mother. Because of her traumatic childhood,
without either parent to look up to, she was inspired to make her life
better by looking back to the modest time she’s had with her mother.

Aunt Adrienne (Aunt)

- Coco Chanel’s closest aunt who taught her how to behave like a real
woman and who also taught her the basics of sewing. Her aunt
inspired her and gave her strength in the times when Chanel would
feel as though the whole world is against her. Aunt Adrienne and
Chanel went out to date lieutenants together. But in Chanel’s later life
none of Adrienne was ever mentioned again.

Women in General in her (Chanel’s) time

- Coco Chanel was very concerned on women’s conformability during

her time, for it was a time when women started going into offices and
working just like men. She thought that it wouldn’t be practical for
women to go to work with dresses that are very inconvenient,
especially those with corsets – in fact with such kinds of clothes a
woman will not be able to move and work freely. This phenomena
impacted Coco Chanel’s fashion deeply thus leading her to change the
fashion of her time into a hassle-free one. Having grown up in an
orphanage and being surrounded by the simple black outfits of the
nuns that looked after her, Chanel emerged into adulthood with a

31
different view of fashion. She disliked the look of corsets and felt that
women were taking on too much discomfort in the name of fashion.
“Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not a luxury,” she said.

A passionate woman, Chanel was influenced for her designs in

the simplicities of her everyday life. From the closets of her lovers to
the time she spent outdoors on her frequent fly-fishing expeditions,
Chanel never stopped seeking out ideas for new product lines.

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 CHANEL’S PERSONAL LEADERSHIP STYLE

Chanel was a woman of ambition and determination. She

introduced simple, elegant, relaxed, and functional clothes that
express the aspirations of women in the Twentieth Century.
She borrowed ideas from men's clothes and created clothes for
modern women. In May, 1916, Chanel introduced jersey suits. A
jersey is a soft and elasticated knit that was used for undergarments
before she introduced her suits because its appearance and its weave
were difficult to handle. Because of war time circumstances, Chanel
adopted a jersey as couture fabric. The suits eliminated the waistline,
and had a simplified elegance. For the first time in women's
fashion, women showed their bare ankles in the streets. People
were surprised by the new style, but the revolutionary use of
jersey was successful. The Chanel suits fitted in people's lifestyle,
and it was not just a trendy fashion. Chanel said, "I make fashion
women can live in, breath in, feel comfortable in and look
younger in." The concept of her fashion was the antithesis of the
concept of high fashion in the past. Her unique sense of fashion also
guided her jewelry designs. She combined real and imitation gems.
Her famous perfume, Chanel No.5, was the first designer's brand
perfume.

Chanel lost her parents when she was young, and she did not
spent childhood in a rich and elegant environment. However, she
escaped from poor circumstances, and she created revolutionary
women's clothes. She was an inspirational person because she
broke the traditional forms of women's clothes, and she
contributed to a change in women's sense through her clothes.

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We can learn something from her life. For example, we can
overcome poverty, and listen to our instincts. Chanel knew that
she was different from others, so it is important to believe in yourself
and try hard to make your dreams come true. Chanel created basic
forms of modern fashion, and many designers had inherited the basic
concept of simplicity and elegance from Chanel. After she got old, she
said, "I must tell you something of significance. Fashion is always of
the time in which you live. It is not something standing alone. The
problem of fashion in 1925 was different. Women were just beginning
to go to work in offices. I inspired the cutting of the hair short because
it goes with the modern woman. To the woman going to work, I said
to take off the bone corset, because women cannot work while they
are imprisoned in a corset."

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 SOURCES OF POWER

If there was anything at all that mainly empowered Coco Chanel

to bring forth change into the fashion world, it was the choking fashion
sense that the women of the 1920’s were suffering from.

Back in the 1920's women dressed conservatively and were even

thought to be less than men. It was Coco Chanel who fearlessly took
her wild ideas of fashion and ran with them. Her first designer item to
be publicly known for was her little black dress. She designed this
dress using a jersey fabric – which was, for its time, stunning. She
used pearls, jewels, and lace to turn an ordinary item of clothing into
an extraordinary piece of art. Gabrielle Chanel was later critically
acclaimed for her women's business suits, which turned the fashion
industry upside down. She had done something no one else had ever
dared to try - to turn clothing designed for men and making it a unisex
fashion. Her emotions, thoughts, and expressions were all displayed in
her clothing. She didn't care about what people thought or if her styles
would be accepted, and it showed in her innovative and spontaneous
designs.

Chanel showed the world her passion for fashion and wasn't
afraid of failing. She showed women that they had the freedom of
expression through their clothes; that they didn't need to be limited to
the way others thought they should look; that the only limit that exists
is the one that lay within you – Chanel liberated women through her
bold fashion.

35
 COCO CHANEL’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS & ROAD TO
LEADERSHIP

1883 On 19 August Gabrielle Chanel is born in Saumur, France.

1910 Chanel, known from now on as Coco, sets up a hat shop at 21, rue Cambon,
Paris, under the label 'Chanel Mode'. She creates a sensation at the racetrack in
Longchamp with her simple tailored suit, in marked contrast to the overelaborat
finery of the day.
1913 Opens her first fashion boutique in Deauville.
1915 Opens a couture house in Biarritz.
1916 Introduces jersey. Her first published design appears in Harper's Bazaar
accompanied by the caption 'the charming chemise dress'.
1921 Opening of 31, rue Cambon.
Launch of the first Chanel perfume: the famous 'No. 5'.
'No. 22' is launched in 1922, followed by 'Gardenia' (1925), 'Bois des lies' (1926),
'Cuir de Russie' (1927), 'Sycomore' and 'Une Idee' (1930) and 'Jasmin' (1932).
1924 The Chanel Perfume company is set up.
1926 Introduces 'the little black dress'.
1928 Moves into rue Cambon where the avant-garde decor combines purity and unity
of style. Introduces tweed. Her first suits are made from tweed specially woven
for her in Scotland.
1929 Accessories boutique set up inside the couture house.
1930 Signs contract with Samuel Goldwyn to dress the stars of United Artists.
1931 Designs the dresses worn by Gloria Swanson in Tonight or Never; the first film
on which she collaborated.
1934 Sets up a specialist workshop to develop her range of elaborate costume jewelry
with the help of Count Etienne de Beaumont and Duke Fulco di Verdura. Starts
a fashion for long gilt chains and for mixing different coloured gems.
1935 Chanel is at the height of her success, employing nearly 4,000 workers and
selling close to 28,000 designs a year all over the world.

36
1939 Outbreak of the Second World War and closure of the Chanel Couture House.
Of the five buildings in rue Cambon, only one stays open, the shop at number
31, where the perfumes and accessories continue to sell well.
1954 The great 'comeback'. Chanel returns to open 31, rue Cambon at the age of
seventy-one. She launches her collection with a jersey suit, the 'No. 5'.
1955 Awarded the Fashion Oscar by Stanley Neiman Marcus, owner of the famous
Neiman Marcus department stores in Dallas, to honour 'the most influential
female designer of the twentieth century'. Launch of first eau de toilette for men,
'Pour Monsieur'.
1959 'No. 5' bottle exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
1970 Launch of 'No. 19' perfume.
1971 Chanel dies 10 January. Her posthumous collection is a great success.

37