Her Style Lives On

Coco Chanel

Pioneer of French Fashion

and

The House of Chanel

Fashion does not only exists in dresses;

fashion is in the air, it is brought in by the wind,

one feels it coming, breathes it in,

it is in the sky and on the pavement,

it depends on ideas, customs, and happenings”

Coco Chanel

I remember the first bottle of perfume I ever got from a boy. I was in 9th grade and it was a bottle of Chanel No.5. 

I was really surprised and bit embarrassed because I couldn't figure out why he gave it to me (he sort of gave it to me and ran). I was new to the school and hardly knew him and really wasn't interested in getting to know him. Also, I thought it was a rather expensive gift for a boy of his age to give to a girl he barely knew. But...I kept it anyway (hey, I was in 9th grade) and have never forgotten it. To this day I have a love affair with fragrance.

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel was born on August 19, 1883 in Samur France. As the story goes, her father was a *market stallholder and her mother worked in a **poorhouse where Gabrielle was born(I know, I didn't think they really existed either). Anyway, her mother died of tuberculosis when she was 12 years old, leaving her father with five children, which he quickly turned over to relatives because he had to go away to work to feed his children. Eventually she was sent to an orphanage for six years where she learned to be a seamstress. She took on the name Coco while working briefly as a cafe and concert singer (1905-1908. By day Coco worked in a tailoring shop where in 1910 she began making hats.

Soon she was expanding to couture and began working with jersey (a first in the French fashion industry). By 1920 her fashion house had expanded considerably and her chemise set a fashion trend with it's "little boy" look. 

Coco introduced her signature cardigan sweater in 1925 

and the "little black dress" in 1926. 

Coco Chanel created timeless designs which we still wear today. She popularized the turtleneck sweater, the much copied Chanel suit, black or grey pullovers with white pique' collars and cuffs, trousers for women and generally designed clothing for comfort.

Gabrielle Chanel

Evening Dress and Bolero (back view)
1937
Black cotton lace with black silk grosgrain ribbon ties and black rayon underslip
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Yann Weymouth, 1981
Image by Karl Lagerfeld for the exhibition catalogue Chanel

Cat. page 107 (left)

Gabrielle Chanel

Evening dress (detail)

Ca. 1937

Peach silk lace and tulle with matching silk crêpe de chine underslip

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Isabel Shults Fund, 2004

Image by Karl Lagerfeld for the exhibition catalogue Chanel

Cat. page 97

Chanel Evening Dress 1937

In 1922 Coco Chanel introduced a perfume called Chanel No. 5, which became and remains a profitable product for the Chanel Company. According to the story Coco Chanel commissioned the renowned perfumer Ernest Beaux to make six perfumes for her choosing. They were labeled No.1, No. 2, etc through 6. It was bottle No. 5 that was her favorite and also her lucky number. 

Coco Chanel was not so lucky in love. Throughout her lifetime she had a string of disastrous affairs with some very influential men.

Coco Chanel died on January 10, 1971, in her apartment at the Ritz Carlton, Paris.  Her death came as she was working on her collection to be presented in the spring fashion shows that month. Coco Chanel was 87 years old.

Her extraordinary influence on fashion was such that she was the only person in her field to be named on Time 100's: The Most Important People of the Century.

Chanel No. 5 remains the most popular scent ever created and is still the world's top selling perfume.

* Market stallholder - person who sells goods at a market stall

**poorhouse - a place where poor, old or sick people lived and were taken care of. Those that were well enough to work had to work.

I'm Just Sayin