The Fashion World

We know the name “Chanel” very well, mainly for its beautiful little black dresses and perfumes. It’s a name that’s been around for a long time (well, as long as I can remember), and like Christian Dior, “Chanel” symbolizes ‘chic’ in every sense of the word. But who was Coco Chanel? And how did her company become a worldwide and household name?

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel was born in 1883 in Saumer, Maine-et-Loire, France. Her mother was Eugenie Jeanne Devolle Chanel, who was a laundrywoman in a charity run hospital which was run by the Sisters of Providence (which was a poorhouse). Gabrielle was her second child with Albert Chanel, who was a travelling street vendor who sold work clothes and undergarments. He lived a nomadic life, travelling to and from markets. The family lived in lodgings (run down lodgings). Albert and Eugenie married in 1884. When Gabrielle’s birth was registered, her surname was misspelt and she went to her grave as “Chasnel.” To legally ‘correct’ the misspelling would have revealed the very real shame (back then) of being born in a poorhouse hospice. With her five brothers and sisters and two parents, the eight of them lived in one room in the town of Brive-la-Gaillarde. Gabrielle Chanel was born into a very poor family.

Her mother died when Gabrielle was eleven years of age and her father separated the children, the boys were sent to work as farm labourers and the girls were sent to the convent of Aubazine, which also ran an orphanage. The religious order was called the “Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Mary” and it was: “founded to care for the poor and rejected, including running homes for abandoned and orphaned girls.” It was a much disciplined way of life and it was here that Gabrielle learnt to sew. At eighteen years of age, being too old to remain in the convent, Gabrielle went to live in a boarding house for Catholic girls in the town of Moulins.

Gabrielle was now employed as a seamstress and also sang in a cabaret, singing in a ‘café-concert’ in a Moulins pavilion, La Rotonde. She performed between the star acts and got paid from the plate that was passed around. It was now that Gabrielle ‘changed’ her name to ‘Coco, and it is said that the name comes from the song she sang “Who has seen Coco?” The name could also be an allusion to the French word “Cocotte” which means ‘kept woman.’ Having a singing voice which was marginal, ‘Coco’ knew that she would never make a serious stage career.

At the age of twenty-three, Coco met and lived with Etienne Balsan, at his chateau Royallieu near Compiegne, which is an area known for its wooded equestrian paths and the hunting life. This introduce Coco to a lifestyle of self-indulgence, and Balsan showered her with diamonds, dresses and pearls --- the ‘baubles of the rich life.’ In 1908, Coco began an affair with Captain Arthur Edward ‘Boy’ Capel, one of Balsan’s friends. He was a wealthy member of the English upper-class and put Coco in an apartment in Paris. The Captain also financed Coco’s first shops. Coco had hoped to settle down with him but the Captain never stayed faithful to her. However, it was at this time that Coco started to develop her ‘style’ by getting ideas from the set she was friends with. This affair lasted nine years. Whilst with Balsan, she started a millinery business with his money, so both Balsan and the Captain were instrumental in Coco’s first fashion ventures.

Her first shop was on Paris’s Rue Cambon in 1910, and here Coco sold hats. Later adding stores in Deauville and Biarritz, Coco began making clothes. When she fashioned a dress out of an old jersey, so many asked where she got the dress from, that Coco offered to make the dress for the inquisitive ‘clients.’ “My fortune is built on that old jersey that I’d put on because it was cold in Deauville,” she once told author Paul Morand. Now that Coco was starting to do well, she ‘recruited’ her sister, Antoinette, and her aunt, Adrienne, to model her designs, and on a daily basis, the two women would parade through the town and on its boardwalks, advertising “Chanel” creations.

Coco now opened an establishment in Biarritz in 1915, which was close to wealthy Spanish clients. This ‘shop’ was set in a villa opposite a casino. After just one year, Coco could reimburse the Captain’s original investment. By 1919, “Chanel” was registered as a couturiere and established the “House” at 31, rue Cambon, Paris. This was one of the most fashionable districts of Paris. Chanel opened a fashion boutique in 1921, which featured clothing, hats and accessories, and this later expanded to jewellery and fragrances. By 1927, Chanel owned five properties on the rue Cambon, buildings 23-31.

In 1920, Chanel met the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and she housed the Stravinsky family at her home until 1921. Chanel was doing so well that she guaranteed the new Ballets Russes production of Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du Printemps” (known to us as “The Rite of Spring”), as well as designer the costumes for the Ballets Russes. In 1922, she met Theophile Bader, who wanted to sell Chanel no.5 (the perfume) in his department store.

By 1935, unfortunately Coco Chanel had become a habitual drug user, in which she would inject herself daily with morphine and this habit she maintained until the end of her life. It was said that she was called Coco because “she threw the most fabulous cocaine parties in Paris.” The write Colette wrote of Chanel and her work: “If every human face bears a resemblance to some animal, the Mademoiselle Chanel is a small black bull. That tuft of curly black hair, the attribute of bull-calves, falls over her brow all the way to the eyelids and dances with every manoeuvre of her head. (Prisons et Paradis, 1932)

The now legendary “Chanel Suit” with collarless jacket and well-fitted skirt, was first introduced in 1925. Her designs borrowed elements from men’s wear and emphasized comfort. Chanel helped women to say ‘goodbye’ to corsets and other confining garments. In the 1920’s came Chanel’s “little black dress,” taking a colour, which was once associated only with mourning, and showed just how ‘chic’ it could be for evening wear --- the colour black.

Samuel Goldwyn met Coco in 1931, while both were in Monte Carlo. Goldwyn made Coco an offer should simply could not refuse: for the sum of one million dollars (approximately US $75 million today), he would bring Coco to Hollywood twice a year to design the costumes for the MGM stars. Of course Coco accepted! Her friend, Misia Sert, went with her on Coco’s first visit to Hollywood. In an interview with Colliers magazine (1932), Coco is quoted as saying that she went to Hollywood to: “see what the pictures have to offer me and what I have to offer the pictures.” Coco Chanel designed the costumes worn by Gloria Swanson and Ina Claire. Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich became private clients. Coco also designed costumes for several French films, in the film “Le Regle du Jeu” she was credited as “La Maison Chanel.”

Coco Chanel became the mistress of some of the most influential men but she never married, although she did have a marriage proposal from the wealthy Hugh Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster. In reply, Coco said: “There have been several Duchesses of Westminster --- but there is only one Chanel!”

At the beginning of World War Two, Coco Chanel closed her shops, keeping her apartment which was situated above the couture house at 31, rue de Cambon. I don’t want to go into Chanel’s (the woman’s) political views during the war, I’ll just say that she “resided at the Hotel Ritz” during the German occupation.

In 1945, Coco moved to Switzerland where she lived for several years, having sold her villa “La Pausa” on the French Reviera. At over seventy years of age and with her couture “House” having been closed for 15 years, Coco Chanel felt that the time was right to go back into the fashion world. The opening of the House in 1954 was fully financed by Pierre Wertheimer. Chanel came out with her comeback collection in 1954, the American and British press saw the collection as a “breakthrough” --- bringing together fashion and youth in a new way.

Coco Chanel died on Sunday, 10th January, 1971, at the Hotel Ritz. The funeral was held at the Eglise de la Madelaine, her fashion models having the first seats during the ceremony and her coffin was covered with camellias, gardenias, orchids, azaleas and red roses. Coco Chanel’s grave is in the Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery, Lausanne, Switzerland.

An interesting life and a real “poor to riches” story, Coco Chanel’s life shows me personally what a person can do --- if they really want to!

(My research comes from: Wikipedia and Fashion Designer)