Fashion as well as art have developed since the beginning of civilizations and throughout each of its stages they have had great figures or exponents that have marked those great moments. Also, fashion has had great designers, who indicate a before and after, in the way people dress. So is the case with the unforgettable French designer Coco Chanel, who represented a woman, a style that remains today. Read on and learn more about her.
Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, as Coco Chanel was really called, was born on August 19, 1883 in Saumur, France. She is said to have been born into poverty as she, at a very young age, was placed in a charity home. According to her birth certificate, she was the product of an illegitimate relationship between Albert Chanel and Jeanne Devolle.
According to his biography, she was the second of five siblings, a large family, because his mother was madly in love with his father, but unfortunately he was a violent, womanizing and alcoholic man. Despite this, a few years after Gabrielle’s birth the couple got married, but that did not last long as Albert, who was a traveling salesman, made Jeanne work long hours, who suffered from severe asthma attacks. Sadly, at the age of 33, Jeanne passed away.
After his death, their father made the decision not to take care of them, so the girls Julia, Antoniette and Gabrielle (only 12 years old), he gave them to the Roman orphanage of Aubazine. While the men were given to a peasant family. None ever saw them again.
This abandonment forever left a deep mark on Gabrielle’s life., because she herself told in multiple interviews that during her childhood she longed to feel loved, adding: “Every day I thought about how to take my own life, although, deep down, I was already dead. Only pride saved me.»
However, as the saying goes, when a door closes, a window opens. During your stay at the orphanage Gabrielle learned to sew, hand embroider and iron flawlessly. She was there she was until she was 18 years oldat which time she was transferred to Notre Dame, to a religious boarding school where she was until she came of age, 21 years old.
Leaving boarding school she began to work with the trade she had learned, a seamstress in a haberdashery in Moulins, where in turn he learned to make hats. Additionally, she in her craft liked to sing even though she wasn’t that good at it. Nevertheless, managed to get a contract as a singer at the cafe La Rotonde, Moulinsalthough he always performed two songs, was widely accepted, like the piece Who has seen Coco at the Trocadero? Hence, her pseudonym of Coco that would later become a legend.
Later, he meets Étienne Balsan, who was a wealthy young man with whom he had a six-year relationship. Balsan showed him a life of luxury, leisure, servants, good food, salons, jokes, parties and horse races.
For that time, the Belle Epoque, the style that prevailed was very ornate dresses and hats, which did not go at all with her style, so on many occasions he designed and commissioned the tailors to create the garments that were to his liking; In general, she preferred to wear straight skirts, blouses, wide-brimmed hats and even pants, as she was not afraid to be innovative.
Together with Balsan she met Paris and fell in love with the lights and magic of the capitalso much so that it inspired her to give free rein to her imagination and her desire to be a designer, continuing at that time with the hobby of making hats for the friends she had met at Balsan Castle.
In addition to knowing the life of the bourgeoisie, the stay with Étienne allowed him to discover love, because at one of his parties met Arthur Capel, who was a handsome young man, cultured, enterprising, famous polo player, and aristocrat of English origin. Upon meeting, they were instantly struck.
At that time Coco wanted to ask for a loan to start her atelier in Paris. Unfortunately Balsan did not believe in her talent and refused her, but Capel intervened supporting her, so Étienne decided to take it back by renting him the lower part of his apartment in Paris. Thus begins Gabrielle’s great dream.
Initially it started only with hats, later it was so successful that it decided to start with clothes.. In 1910, financed by Capel, she managed to open her first Chanel Mansion, at 21 rue Cambon.
Thanks to the love relationship that began with Capel, who was nicknamed Boy, Coco began to frequent more distinguished circles and her hats began to be sought after by the aristocracy, society ladies and artists.
By 1913, Coco managed to open a branch in the exclusive resort of Deauville.where the high society of the time was concentrated. There he dared to break the paradigm of the suffocating corset of the Belle Epoque, using simple but functional, elegant and comfortable models. That style became a hit and his earnings tripled.
Not everything could be happiness and after eight years of a happy relationship with Boy, he breaks up with her, since unfortunately he had engaged for convenience with a young English woman. This completely collapsed the world of coco in its moment of greatest creative boom.
Once the first world war ended, when the first steps towards women’s liberation were taken, Coco Chanel’s style fitted like a glove to it. At the same time, his style continued to conquer markets such as New York and Buenos Aires.it was then that he decided to make a radical change by cutting his long hair to a garçon (boy) style, which gave much to talk about.
The only wedding dress she made was for her sister Antoinette., Because? Well, sadly his marriage was unsuccessful, he became depressed and committed suicide. Of course this was a new jolt for Coco and she decided not to make any more wedding dresses so as not to tempt fate.
As if this were not enough, Boy decides to return to her life and they reconciled, thus becoming her lover, however, in 1919 when he was on his way to join his wife in Cannes, he had a car accident and died. Without a doubt, this was the event that marked Coco’s life forever, because he was everything to her.
To her surprise, Boy included her in his will with his wife, so she inherited a large sum of pounds sterling. With this, he came to incorporate pieces that were very surprising, such as rabbit skin, but he still triumphed.
Likewise, He was associated with great figures of the time such as Stravinsky, Picasso, Salvador Dalí, the great Duke Dimitri, among many others; Thanks to the latter, she discovered her pearls, which inspired her to replicate this jewel through long multi-strand necklaces. A) Yes, Coco appeared in Harpers Bazaar magazine. She, then, was the only one capable of mixing the fake jewels with the real ones.From then until today they still remain a basic, elegant and emblematic accessory of the Chanel house.
In addition to all the paradigms that he broke for the time, introduced the Chanel suit, hiked the skirt from the ankle to above the knee, leaving the moralists with their mouths open. Additionally, for 1921 another of his great achievements took place, the launch of his perfume Chanel No. 5; For this, she received help from the chemist and perfumer Ernest Beaux, she achieved a fragrance with 80 ingredients, thus obtaining a perfume that was distinguished from those of that time. The acceptance was unprecedented and the perfume is and has remained a classic.
As for expanding your business, extended the boutique at 31 rue Cambon to numbers 27 and 29 and also opened a branch in Cannes. However, also He designed the costumes for the play Le train bleu, a piece by the Ballets Russes, and managed to dress important personalities such as Greta, Gloria Swanson, Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn.
Another crucial moment that she had to live through was the Second World War, which forced her to lay off all her staff and close her stores. By 1945 he decided to leave Paris and go to Switzerland, he stayed there for nine years and returned at the age of 71, in 1954 to reopen his fashion house..
Even though Coco had many properties, decided to rent an apartment at the Ritz hotel, where he settled, until the end of his days. After many romantic illusions, many losses, paradoxically, a lot of professional success, money and worldwide recognition. She always worked despite her immense fortune but intimately she was very lonely, she never married or had children.
Finally, On January 1, 1971, a sad and gray day, Coco Chanel left this plane at the age of 81, leaving behind her a mark that remains to this day and has been indelible in the world of fashion.. More than building a career, she overcame pain, adversity, broke schemes, paradigms, created an empire, but above all things she was true to herself, until the end. As one of her famous phrases: «To be irreplaceable, you must be different.»