Her’s is a ‘rags to riches’ story. She was born in 1883, in a workhouse in the Loire Valley in France, where her mother worked. After her mother’s death, young Gabrielle was sent to live in an orphanage run by a Catholic monastery. This is where she learnt the trade of a seamstress. She left the orphanage when she turned 18 and took up work for a local tailor. It was during a brief stint as a singer in cafes and concert halls that Gabrielle adopted the name Coco, a nickname given to her by local soldiers who went to watch her.
“I invented my life by taking for granted that everything I did not like would have an opposite, which I would like.” – She was once quoted as saying. True to her words, Coco never liked her humble lifestyle and was fascinated by the wealthy people in Paris. Her thirst for luxury and comfort acted as a catalyst in making her successful. Two of her male admirers came from wealth. They helped her set up her first boutique in Paris, in 1910. And from that tiny shop in Paris, she went onto become one of the most successful and respected Fashion Designers in the world.
Coco started by making hats. Soon, her dainty, black coloured hats became a rage in Paris and offers kept pouring from other European countries as well. Chanel, in her typical blunt manner, openly criticised the heavy Corseted and bottom-heavy gowns worn by the wealthy socialites. She classified these dresses as ‘vulgar’ and believed that form-fitting simple dresses were much classy and elegant. She said, “Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity.” She started making simple dresses, androgenous jackets and A-Line skirts and wearing them herself. Soon, others took notice and the offers started pouring. Women around Europe started adopting simple, clean-cut garments in their wardrobe. She also popularized the colour Black, which until then was considered ‘manly’ and thus not appropriate for a lady to wear.
With the help of the magazine, Vogue, she was able to present ‘The Little Black Dress’ in the market, which even today, is considered the most classy and appropriate evening wear for woman in the West. The receding hemlines of her clothes were met with great reception everywhere. It also helped that during 1920s, the Flapper movement, a movement that revolutionized the status of women in the society, was at its peak, and women everywhere were open to dressing for comfort. Chanel’s androgenous Tweed jackets, with padded shoulders represented the ‘Strong, independent woman’. Her devil-may-care attitude, which once upon a time would’ve been looked down upon, suddenly seemed fascinating to women around the world, who wanted to break free of the invisible chains which the male-dominated bound them to.
Her business boomed in the Post World War I period. Coco Chanel became the first designer to create loose, women’s jersey, traditionally used for men’s underwear, creating a relaxed style for women, ignoring the stiff corseted look of the time. They soon became popular with clients for whom the corseted, restricted clothing seemed old-fashioned and impractical.
It is said that Coco Chanel wasn’t just ahead of time, she was ahead of herself. The works of contemporary designers like Donatella Versace and Tom Ford echo what Chanel once did. The way, 75 years ago, she mixed up male and female clothes and created fashion that offered the wearer a sense of comfort and hidden luxury rather than ostentation are just two examples of how her taste and sense and style overlap with today’s fashion. She was also the first designer to launch a signature perfume. Chanel No.5 holds top position in the market, to this day.
She was also a very good business-woman, who had a clear understanding about the importance of creating a brand identity, packaging that held a recall value, and a loyal clientele. She created the Chanel logo using her initials (the letter C) herself, which is one of the most recognized logos today. She was a workaholic, and would not settle for anything less than ‘perfect’. And these perfect looking clothes and her impeccable styling were noticed by Hollywood as well. Actress Audrey Hepburn was a loyal client of Chanel. She wore the ‘Little Black Dress’ and a simple pearl necklace in the movie, ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’, and looked the epitome of Elegance and Class.
It is said that Coco Chanel was working even one day before her death. She once said, “There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love, That leaves no other time.” And her love was her work – creating beautiful pieces of ‘art’. Today, her legacy is kept alive by Karl Lagerfield, Designer-in-Chief of the brand Chanel and his team.