GABRIELLE “COCO” CHANEL 1883-1971

GABRIELLE “COCO” CHANEL 1883-1971

Chanel

GABRIELLE “COCO” CHANEL 1883-1971

Coco Chanel, born Gabrielle Chanel, was the most revolutionary fashion designer of the 1900s, from her tumultuous childhood to the history of the little black dress and the knitted suit. Born in Saumur, in the Loire Valley on August 19, 1883, Jeanne DeVolle gave birth in a hospice to Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, who the world would one day know by the eponymous name of Coco Chanel. Although today we know Chanel as an iconic luxury name, the designer's origins stem from a melancholic and grief-stricken childhood. She experienced the premature death of her mother, abandonment by her father Henri-Albert Chasnel, a traveling salesman by profession, and spent years in the custody of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Aubazine.

Coco Chanel
There she was surrounded by women dressed only in austere, strictly black and white clothes, and the rigorous architecture of the abbey. Yet, ironically, it was here that Gabrielle began to become Chanel: the antithesis of opposing colors and the severity of lines that eventually became the hallmark of her designs. At the age of 18, Gabrielle Chanel found herself free to leave Aubazine and begin living her life at the dawn of her youth. She started working as a sales assistant in the Maison Grampayre store in Moulins, while simultaneously working as a singer in a café. One of her signature songs, "Qui qu’a vu Coco?" is where it is rumored she got her legendary nickname Coco. Moving forward, the very cafés of Moulins led to her exposure and meeting promising fashion executives like Étienne de Balsan, son of textile entrepreneurs, who invited her to move to a castle in Royallieu. After a six-year relationship, Étienne became not only a romantic partner but also her first financier. While discovering Chanel's exceptional talent for hat-making, women in the immediate vicinity of Balsan's company soon began to notice and show interest in her designs as well.
Her creations quickly became highly sought after, prompting her to move to Paris in 1908 and then to Deauville in 1914, to open her first shop. In 1910 Gabrielle Chanel opened her first boutique in Paris, at No. 21 rue Cambon: a millinery shop with a sign that read “Chanel Modes”. Sought after by the most famous French actresses of the time, the boutique's designs made Chanel's name known throughout Paris. Gabrielle was already famous. The simple and elegant style of Chanel clothes caused a sensation, and there was no one in the city who didn't try to imitate it. Shortly after opening her first shop in 1916, a haute couture showroom was opened in Biarritz. Her rapid rise to prominence was due to the contrasting nature of her designs to the popular fashion of that time, which was still closely linked to traditional and slowly obsolete pieces: the corset and the crinoline. Pieces that were now seen as cages in which women enclosed themselves in the cry for aesthetic balance and were increasingly considered unhealthy. Thus, Chanel, against the current, began to offer sporty silhouettes, with simple and soft lines, in line with what would become the new trend of the early century. In 1916 Rodier, a French textile industrialist, exclusively gave Gabrielle Chanel jersey, a fabric that proved to be the best interpreter of Chanel's creations given its softness on the body and its innate ability to free the woman's physical form. The skirt, pullover, and cardigan triptych thus became the first distinctive model of Chanel fashion, made especially in neutrals such as gray, beige, and dark blue, as well as the famous black and white combination.
Chanel

But it was in 1920 that her exclusive dedication to this aesthetic took place.

In that year Chanel opened her first boutique in Paris at 31 Rue de Cambon.

This was the crucial moment for the success of her career, seeing exponential and constant growth thanks to her ambition, which was defined by her incessant desire for more.

In 1921, Chanel launched her first fragrance, the iconic perfume that once belonged to the Tsar's perfumer, CHANEL N°5. It was the fifth fragrance presented to Mademoiselle Chanel and owes its name to this fact. A true timeless classic, CHANEL N°5 remains the absolute symbol of femininity.

The following year, CHANEL N°22 was launched. This floral fragrance, named after the year of its creation, is the offspring of the same revolutionary spirit that gave birth to CHANEL N°5 and is characterized by a unique blend of delicacy and audacity.

In 1924, the first makeup line was created. Chanel presented her first makeup collection, including lipsticks and powders. In the same year, "Société des Parfums Chanel" was founded, dedicated to the creation of unique fragrances and beauty products.

From this same incessant desire to create more, came the birth of her first and famous perfume, Chanel No.5, which can only be described as a timeless fragrance that, even today, is considered one of the best ever conceived. Subsequently, other fragrances were created, such as No.22, Gardenia, inspired by the designer's favorite flower, and No.19.

ChanelChanel

Always observant, Gabrielle Chanel used her observations of the clothing of Parisian employees and orders, characterized by black dresses with white collars and cuffs, to inspire her designs. In the mid-1920s, her analysis turned into the little robe noir, or the little black dress with the simplest possible lines, in the hope of making women equal to each other, albeit with immense style. True to her now firm conviction that "fashion fades, only style remains," this vision led to the absolute success achieved by the Chanel dress, loved by women all over the world: in gabardine, tweed, and, of course, jersey.

After establishing a substantial and consistent vision with her garments, the designer continued to focus her efforts on accessories. Chanel sought the help of Count Etienne de Beaumont and Duke Fulco di Verdura to start a workshop dedicated to costume jewelry creations, where non-precious gems were combined with the purest ones. Extremely rich and almost opulent creations were necessary for the designer, who loved the essentiality of her clothes and sought to perfectly balance them with extravagant accessories.

In February 1955, Gabrielle Chanel launched the iconic 2.55 quilted bag, named after the date of its creation. Combining leather and gold chains, Chanel invented a new and adaptable style of handle: at once durable and lightweight, it left hands free.

 Chanel

During World War II, Gabrielle Chanel was forced to withdraw from the fashion scene for a short period, only to return in 1954. Chanel, now at the age of 71, was considered by critics and colleagues to be on the verge of an imminent decline. Yet, in what is now an unsurprising turn of events, Chanel debuted her knitted suit, immediately transforming it into another staple of the house. Early fans of the classic suit included First Lady Jackie Kennedy who was often seen in these designs. Notably, on the day of her husband John F. Kennedy's assassination, she was wearing a Chanel suit with a bright pink knitted top.

 

On January 10, 1971, Chanel died in her suite at the Hôtel Ritz in Paris at the age of 87. Her life lived to the fullest, she forever changed international fashion and the concept of dressing the female body. Immediately after her death, the fashion house was led by Gaston Berthelot and Ramon Esparza, assistants to the late designer. It then passed to the creative direction of Karl Lagerfeld in 1983, an extraordinary designer who demonstrated how to make the house's stylistic codes contemporary without ever betraying Gabrielle Chanel's vision.



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