Coco Avant Chanel, Designer, Lover and business-woman. With her birthday coming up (19th August) I thought I would celebrate it, along wit the release of her biographical movie with mini bio of this amazing woman, who revolutionised fashion for women the world over.
The strong Leo woman was born on the 19th of August in 1883 as Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, in Saumur, France. (though she would say she was born in 1893 in Auvergne) She was born an illegitimate child, with her mother passing away before she was twelve, leaving her to grow up in an orphanage along with her four siblings. She was educated at a convent, where the black habits of the nuns would inspire her world altering designs.
Before becoming a successful designer, she was a dancer, a horse rider an actress and a singer. When performing caberet at Cafe la Rotonde she would sing, 'Ko Ko Ri Ko' (French for 'cock-a-doodle-do') and 'Qui Qu'a Vu Coco'. The audience would cry out 'Coco!' when demanding an encore and the name stuck!
Coco was an incredible business woman, and that along with a string of devoted sugar daddies she started her career. She would boast 'I was able to start a high-fashion shop because two gentlemen were bidding over my hot little body'. Oh Coco! So modest! One of the men she referred to was the love of her life, Englishman Arthur 'Boy' Capel. Boy would show her the way into the society she craved to be part of, lavished her with cash and loved her. The only problem was that he could not marry her. It was out of the question for an aristocrat such as himself to marry into a lower class. This would be the start of Coco's independence that lasted throughout her life. In 1910, he would help her open her first boutique on rue Cambon, which initially specialised in Millinery for clients who were friends of the stage and from society. 9 years after the opening of the boutique, she was devastated by the passing of Boy whom died in a car accident, and she never gave her heart away completely again.
Coco would later collaborate with the likes of Picasso, who rejected her as a lover, and Stravinsky who did not. She would be a part of the most eloquent of Parisian high society: Cocteau, Dali, Diaghilev. Her liaisons would include aristocrats such as Etienne Balsan the racehorse breeder and the Duke of Westminster who at the time was rumored to be the richest (married) man in England. The Duke would inspire her love of costume jewelry and the signature Chanel Pearls, which she would wear with her tweeds when out riding with him. They would be together for 10 years in which time he would show his love for her by entwining her interlocking C's with his crest and putting them on all the light posts of Westminster. You can still see them today lining some of the smartest streets in London.
This was not her only fling with royalty, she would later be involved with Prince Dimitri a Russian duke who would help her launch her perfumes. The infamous Chanel No. 5 was created with Ernest Beaux, by mixing 128 scents together. Coco would be the first to incorporate floral notes such as jasmine into perfumes. It was named No. 5 with characteristic simplicity; as it was the 5th vial she sniffed!
The first Chanel cardigan jacket was made in 1925, and with her first tweed outfit in 1928 the Chanel 'attitude' was born. This would be the perfect armor for the ambitious women of the 20's. In 1931 she had negotiated herself a million-dollar contract with United Artists to clothe their Hollywood starlets, though this was short lived, as her heart lay with her couture house in Paris.
By 1939 she decided she'd made enough money to retire and with that, closed her beloved fashion house and moved into the Ritz hotel.
During the war, Chanel was to have had an affair with a Nazi intelligence officer and spy; Baron Hans Gunther von Dincklage. Now that's a mouthful! He was but a toy boy to Ms Chanel, being 10 years younger than her. This might not have been the best choice of lover in the PR stakes as this eventually led to her arrest and interrogated by the French police, but thanks to a friendship with Winston Churchill, she managed to get out of any major retribution. She is said to have remarked that 'at my age, when a man wants to sleep with you, you don't ask to see a passport'.
After WW2 ended, she left France and moved to neutral Switzerland, but then in 1947 at age 64 she returned to France and re-opened the doors of Chanel, saying that it was her duty in the face of Mr Dior and his new look. He embodied the very antithesis of all her lifestyle principals, though secretly Chanel was delighted to be back in business. Especially if she could blame the inconvenience of someone else!
Her comeback collection was shown in 1954, and there it was - she put the perfect little black dress on the catwalk. Thus becoming the most sought after item of clothing for well dressed woman and the 'Chanel Look' swept across the Atlantic.
Coco Chanel would work right up until her death, at the Ritz hotel Paris, on the 10th of January in 1971. She was still doing fittings for her upcoming collection.
In 1983, her look was taken over by Karl Lagerfeld who has kept the look alive and ever-youthful. She most probably would not approve of this as she didn't think much of her male rivals.
Merci Mademoiselle Coco Chanel.
xo-xo
Before becoming a successful designer, she was a dancer, a horse rider an actress and a singer. When performing caberet at Cafe la Rotonde she would sing, 'Ko Ko Ri Ko' (French for 'cock-a-doodle-do') and 'Qui Qu'a Vu Coco'. The audience would cry out 'Coco!' when demanding an encore and the name stuck!
Coco was an incredible business woman, and that along with a string of devoted sugar daddies she started her career. She would boast 'I was able to start a high-fashion shop because two gentlemen were bidding over my hot little body'. Oh Coco! So modest! One of the men she referred to was the love of her life, Englishman Arthur 'Boy' Capel. Boy would show her the way into the society she craved to be part of, lavished her with cash and loved her. The only problem was that he could not marry her. It was out of the question for an aristocrat such as himself to marry into a lower class. This would be the start of Coco's independence that lasted throughout her life. In 1910, he would help her open her first boutique on rue Cambon, which initially specialised in Millinery for clients who were friends of the stage and from society. 9 years after the opening of the boutique, she was devastated by the passing of Boy whom died in a car accident, and she never gave her heart away completely again.
Coco would later collaborate with the likes of Picasso, who rejected her as a lover, and Stravinsky who did not. She would be a part of the most eloquent of Parisian high society: Cocteau, Dali, Diaghilev. Her liaisons would include aristocrats such as Etienne Balsan the racehorse breeder and the Duke of Westminster who at the time was rumored to be the richest (married) man in England. The Duke would inspire her love of costume jewelry and the signature Chanel Pearls, which she would wear with her tweeds when out riding with him. They would be together for 10 years in which time he would show his love for her by entwining her interlocking C's with his crest and putting them on all the light posts of Westminster. You can still see them today lining some of the smartest streets in London.
This was not her only fling with royalty, she would later be involved with Prince Dimitri a Russian duke who would help her launch her perfumes. The infamous Chanel No. 5 was created with Ernest Beaux, by mixing 128 scents together. Coco would be the first to incorporate floral notes such as jasmine into perfumes. It was named No. 5 with characteristic simplicity; as it was the 5th vial she sniffed!
The first Chanel cardigan jacket was made in 1925, and with her first tweed outfit in 1928 the Chanel 'attitude' was born. This would be the perfect armor for the ambitious women of the 20's. In 1931 she had negotiated herself a million-dollar contract with United Artists to clothe their Hollywood starlets, though this was short lived, as her heart lay with her couture house in Paris.
By 1939 she decided she'd made enough money to retire and with that, closed her beloved fashion house and moved into the Ritz hotel.
During the war, Chanel was to have had an affair with a Nazi intelligence officer and spy; Baron Hans Gunther von Dincklage. Now that's a mouthful! He was but a toy boy to Ms Chanel, being 10 years younger than her. This might not have been the best choice of lover in the PR stakes as this eventually led to her arrest and interrogated by the French police, but thanks to a friendship with Winston Churchill, she managed to get out of any major retribution. She is said to have remarked that 'at my age, when a man wants to sleep with you, you don't ask to see a passport'.
After WW2 ended, she left France and moved to neutral Switzerland, but then in 1947 at age 64 she returned to France and re-opened the doors of Chanel, saying that it was her duty in the face of Mr Dior and his new look. He embodied the very antithesis of all her lifestyle principals, though secretly Chanel was delighted to be back in business. Especially if she could blame the inconvenience of someone else!
Her comeback collection was shown in 1954, and there it was - she put the perfect little black dress on the catwalk. Thus becoming the most sought after item of clothing for well dressed woman and the 'Chanel Look' swept across the Atlantic.
Coco Chanel would work right up until her death, at the Ritz hotel Paris, on the 10th of January in 1971. She was still doing fittings for her upcoming collection.
In 1983, her look was taken over by Karl Lagerfeld who has kept the look alive and ever-youthful. She most probably would not approve of this as she didn't think much of her male rivals.
Chanelisms
'The most courageous act is to think for yourself. Aloud.'
'Elegance does not consist in putting on a new dress'
'Don't spend time beating on a wall hoping to transform it into a door'
'Fashion is not simply a matter of clothes. Fashion is in the air, born upon the wind. One intuits it. It is in the sky and on the road.'
'It is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate accessory of fashion that heralds your arrival and prolongs your departure.'
'The most courageous act is to think for yourself. Aloud.'
'Elegance does not consist in putting on a new dress'
'Don't spend time beating on a wall hoping to transform it into a door'
'Fashion is not simply a matter of clothes. Fashion is in the air, born upon the wind. One intuits it. It is in the sky and on the road.'
'It is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate accessory of fashion that heralds your arrival and prolongs your departure.'
Merci Mademoiselle Coco Chanel.
xo-xo
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