Information about Coco Chanel

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (August 19, 1883 – January 10, 1971)^[1] was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist philosophy, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her arguably the most important figure in the history of 20th-century fashion. Her influence on haute couture was such that she was the only person in the field to be named on TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people of the 20th century.^[2]

Early life

She was born the second illegitimate daughter of traveling salesman Albert Chanel and Jeanne Devolle in the small city of Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France. There was a mis-spelling on her birth certificate that was recorded her surname as 'Chasnel', making the tracing of her roots almost impossible for biographers when Chanel later rose to prominence. Coco was born in a poorhouse. Her birth was recorded the following day. Two employees of the hospice went to city hall and declared the child of feminine gender. The hospice employees were illiterate so when the mayor Francois 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. Her parents married in 1883. She had five siblings: two sisters, Julie (1882-1913) and Antoinette (born 1887) and three brothers, Alphonse (born 1885), Lucien (born 1889) and Augustin (born and died 1891). In 1895, when she was 12 years old, Chanel's mother died; her father left the family a short time later. The young Chanel spent seven years in the orphanage of the Catholic monastery of Aubazine, where she learned the trade of a seamstress. School vacations were spent with relatives in the provincial capital of Moulins, where female relatives taught Coco to sew with more flourish than the nuns at the monastery were able to demonstrate. When Coco turned eighteen, she left the orphanage and briefly enrolled at the Notre Dame boarding school as a charity case before leaving the school to take up work for a local tailor.

It was at the tailor shop where she met and soon began an affair with the English playboy Etienne Balsan. While living with Balsan, Coco began designing hats as a hobby. The hats immediately caught the attention of the female Parisian elite, and provided Coco with a path toward earning financial independence for herself. With the aid of Balsan and, Arthur "Boy" Capel, Coco was able to acquire the property and financial backing to open her own millinery shop.

Later in life, Coco Chanel concocted an elaborate false history for her humble beginnings. She would steadfastly claim that when her mother died, her father sailed for America and she was sent to live with two cold-hearted spinster aunts. She even claimed to have been born in 1893 as opposed to 1883, and that her mother had died when Coco was 6, instead of twelve. She never married. All this was done in order to diminish the stigma that poverty and orphanhood bestowed upon unfortunates in nineteenth century France.

Origin of Coco

The origin of the nickname Coco is uncertain. Many sources indicate that it was acquired at La Rotonde, a cafe frequented by members of a French cavalry regiment and many of the artists who flocked to Paris' Montparnasse section at the turn of the 20th century. It was there that Chanel, then a cabaret singer, performed a song called "Qui qu'a vu Coco", Who has seen Coco, and the name stuck. Other sources state that her audiences cried "Coco" when they wanted an encore, while further sources state that the song was called "Cocorico," French for "Cock-a-doodle-do."

She opend her first shop in 1910 at the 21 rue Cambon, then opened a boutique in Deauville in 1913 and a couture house in 1915. She moved her firm to 31 rue Cambon in 1918. Her romances with the artist Paul Iribe, the 2nd Duke of Westminster, and Grand Duke Dmitri of Russia all had a considerable influence on the stylistic evolution of her fashions.

The Chanel Empire

The influential Chanel suit, launched in 1923, it was an elegant suit comprising a knee-length skirt and trim, boxy jacket, traditionally made of woven wool with black trim and gold buttons and worn with large costume-pearl necklaces. Coco Chanel also popularized the little black dress, whose blank-slate versatility allowed it to be worn for day and evening, depending on how it was accessorized. Although unassuming black dresses existed before Chanel, the ones she designed were considered the haute couture standard. In 1923, she told Harper's Bazaar that "simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance." Chanel always kept the clothing she designed simple and comfortable. She took what was considered poor fabrics like jersey and upgraded them.

Later Years

For more than 30 years, Gabrielle Chanel made the Hôtel Ritz Paris her home, even during the Nazi occupation of Paris. During that time she was criticized for having an affair with Hans Gunther von Dincklage, a German officer who arranged for her to remain in the hotel.^[2] She also maintained an apartment above her Rue Cambon couture house and built Villa La Pausa in the town of Roquebrune on the French Riviera. However, she spent her later years in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she is buried. Her tombstone is carved with five stone lion heads. ^[3]

In Pop Culture

In 1969, Chanel was portrayed on the Broadway stage by Katharine Hepburn in a musical by Andre Previn and Alan Jay Lerner, and, in 1981, on screen by the French actress Marie-France Pisier. Written by William Luce, a new play based on her life, entitled 'Crème de Coco,' is also debuting in April, 2007 at St. Ambrose University and will be directed by Philip Wm. McKinley (director of the Tony Award winning Broadway musical, The Boy From Oz).

In 2008, a new film entitled Coco Avant Chanel (Coco Before Chanel) will be released, starring Audrey Tatou as Chanel^[4]. The film will showcase Chanel before she became famous.

The House of Chanel in Paris, under Karl Lagerfeld, remains one of the largest design houses today.

References

External links

• Official Site of Chanel
• Coco Chanel - Biography
• Discuss Coco Chanel at Fashion Forum
• Biography of Coco Chanel
• Coco Chanel profile in Harper's BAZAAR