Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel

Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel

“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening. "- CocoChanel
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was born on August 19, 1883, in Saumur, France. When she was one year old her parents got married, but unfortunately when she was 12 her mother died. After the unfortunateevent, Albert Chanel, his father, sent her to live to a Roman Catholic orphanage.
I think one of the main reasons why Chanel made the difference and transcend, was because she had the desire toexcel from the beginning. She began from the depths of poverty as a shopkeeper and then in an attempt to have a career in theater she gets the nickname “Coco”. But even her lack of experience stoppedher. Also, in the beginning she was a minority, most of the people in the society disliked her first designs and criticized her saying she dressed like a man. However, that didn’t stop her, because sheended in the “creme de la creme” of the society with numerous of the most important people of the century.
"I did not go into society because I had to design clothes. I designed clothes preciselybecause I did go out, because I was the first to live the life of this century.” –Coco Chanel

Before Chanel, the women's clothing was uncomfortable and impractical. But, Coco´s designs changed theworld of fashion. She liked dresses with no corsets, and hats with no feathers. In a time of extravagance and excess she dared to be original and elegant. She defied convention and defined the modernwoman. Coco transformed the purpose of clothing, made them simple and elegant leaving an international brand, Chanel, the empire that still uses her name.



References
Pettinger, T. (2011) CocoChanel Biography [online] Available at: http://www.biographyonline.net/artists/coco-chanel.html (Accessed November 15, 2011)
Famous Women and Beauty (20108) Coco Chanel Biography [online]...