la petite coco coco chanel
la petite coco coco chanel
la petite coco coco chanel
compiled and edited by
shanleigh sanford little brown & co. | boston
on a more personal note 10
career accomplishments QUITE THE fashionable legacy
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on a more
the younger years
C
oco Chanel wasn’t just ahead of her time. She was ahead of herself. If one looks at the work of contemporary fashion designers as different from one another as Tom Ford, Helmut part of the language of fashion. One can Lang, Miuccia Prada, Jil Sander and Donatella Versace, one see how her style evolved out of necessees that many of their strategies echo what Chanel once sity and defiance. She couldn’t afford the did. The way, 75 years ago, she mixed up the vocabulary fashionable clothes of the period--so she of male and female clothes and created fashion that rejected them and made her own, using, say, offered the wearer a feeling of hidden luxury rather the sports jackets and ties that were everyday than ostentation are just two examples of how her male attire around the racetrack, where she taste and sense of style overlap with today’s fashion. was climbing her first social ladders. Chanel would not have defined herself as a femiGabrielle Chanel was born on August 19, 1883 nist--in fact, she consistently spoke of femininity in the French town of Saumur in the Loire valrather than of feminism--yet her work is unquesley. Her father, Albert Chanel, was a pedlar, and tionably part of the liberation of women. She her mother, Jeanne Dovolle, a peasant woman. Her threw out a life jacket, as it were, to women not mother died early, at the age of thirty-two. Her once but twice, during two distinct periods father felt incapable of looking over his five children; decades apart: the 1920s and the ‘50s. She he sent the boys off to a farm and the girls to a convent. not only appropriated styles, fabrics and The technique of sewing was initially taught to Chanel articles of clothing that were worn by men here at the convent. Around 1900, Chanel moved in with but also, beginning with how she dressed her grandparents in Moulins, France. It was here that herself, appropriated sports clothes as she found work, with the help of her cousin, Adrienne, sewing women’s lingerie, linens, and hosiery at the shop of Monsieur Henri Desboutin.
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The fashionable entertainment of the day was the cafe concerts, a sort-of cabaret music hall. Chanel had a sudden hunger for appearing on the stage. She began performing and was said to have gotten the name “Coco” from a song she sang called “Qui Qua vu Coco?” “Whatever the reason, she was known to her fans in the audience as “La petite Coco.”
horse racing, women, and parties. “Chanel was well aware that men like Balsan did not marry orphaned seamstresses.” As a result of Balsan’s intense love for his horses, Chanel became interested in them as well. “In the saddle she learned an essential discipline: never to use force, but always to remain relaxed. Both the haute ecole and haute couture as practiced by Chanel shape this understated elegance, this valuing of discretion over ostentation.”
Soon after, she met the young Etienne Balsan, a rich man who had a passion of horse racing and training. “Chanel’s biographer, Axel Madsen, notes that they probably met when Chanel worked on Sunday mornings as a tailor’s assistant at a shop frequented by dandy young officers in search of the smartest uniform.” Balsan used his wealth to acquire his family’s estate near Compeigne It was Chanel’s unique style that made her stand out in 1904. Chanel, at the approximate age of while living at Balsan’s estate. She had the tailor make 25, went to live with Balsan. It was this new, her a particular set of riding clothes. At this time, it was rich life that helped her get rid of her old traditional for women to wear breeches, a skirt and jacket life that she despised. Balsan loved horse while riding; Chanel wore jodhpurs (full-length trousers), a racing, women, and parties. “Chanel was shirt with a small collar and a knitted tie, and a riding jacket. well aware that men like Balsan did not marry orphaned seamstresses.” As a result of Balsan’s intense love for his horses, Chanel became interested
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“Indeed her clothes were not so very different from those worn by her male companions.” It was this riding jacket that would later serve as inspiration for her well-known tailored suit jacket. “She often favored masculine styles, elements of which were to survive even into her final collections, in particular the small boated-shaped hats, neat collars, and shirt cuffs fastened with cuff-links.” It was through Balsan’s rich crowd that Chanel first provided Chanel with his ground floor began to draw attention as a fashion designer, starting apartment in Paris, where she set up with her hat designs. When women started attending shop to sell her hats. She moved in with the horse races wearing Chanel’s hats, the tabloids Capel, as their relationship grew deeper. took note and broadcasted her new styles. As she With his help, Chanel was able to open up began to gain recognition, Chanel imagined a boutique at 21 Rue Cambon, where she herself as a professional milliner (hat maker), started off making only hats. Capel tragisetting up shop in Paris. It was around this time cally died in an automobile accident in 1919, that she met Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel, a wealthy a devastating blow to Chanel. “According to English businessman and fine polo player. He biographer Axel Madsen, Chanel later said, ‘We soon became her lover and friend. Balsan were made for each other. That he was there and that he loved me, and that he knew I loved him was all that mattered.’”
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making a name for herself
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s Chanel’s name became a well-known favorite among the women of Paris, she opened additional shops in the coastal resort towns of Deauville and Biarritz. While spending a summer in Deauville, Chanel took a liking to outdoor activities, thus inspiring the need for a clothing line of practical, but elegant, styles for relaxing. “According to At this time, World War I began taking Madsen, ‘In 1913, knits were considered unsuitable and place, effecting France in high amounts. too limp and lifeless for anything but underwear, The economy began dipping. Men were off flannel too working class or masculine, to be stylish at war, forcing women to replace them in for women. She made jersey chic with her simple the factories. While most people were struggray and navy dresses that were quite unlike gling, Chanel’s career was growing, and fast. anything women had worn before.’” She began Her clothing style was all about functionality creating designs for her own use. These became and comfort; the perfect mix for what women noticed by women of the area. Because of this of the time needed. “She flourished not just in heightened interest, Chanel volunteered to spite of the war, but perhaps because of it. Against begin selling her creations. “Later she told the background of war and rationing, good taste biographers, ‘My dear, my fortune is built on demanded that women finally pare down their cloththat old jersey that I’d put on because it was ing, rejecting conspicuous opulence and frou-frou. cold Deauville.’” Women were also facing a need for practical clothing to suit a new, active lifestyle as they became involved in the war effort.’” Chanel single-handedly constructed a women’s fashion revolution.
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It was in 1923 that Chanel, with a staff of over 300, became even more prevalent in the women’s world with her creation of her first perfume, Chanel No. 5. “Collaborating with wellknown perfume expert Ernest Beaux, Chanel wanted to create a new scent, void of the flowery, rose-water smells of the popular perfumes of the day...Of the final seven samples, Chanel chose the fifth, thus the name Chanel No. 5.” She made this the most expensive perfume a woman could buy, increasing it’s popularity at large. The classic Chanel suit was introduced to the world in 1925. This suit was made up of a collarless cardigan jacket with tight-fitting sleeves and trim, paired with a plain but elegant skirt. Within a year of her suit, she also created the infamous “little black dress”. Both styles were revolutionary to the world of fashion, and remain in high demand to this very day. It was during World War II that Chanel’s reputation began to be in distress. She closed her shops and got rid of her employees. As Nazi forces began to overtake France, she started a relationship with Nazi soldier Hans Gunther von Dincklage. “When France was
liberated in 1944, Chanel underwent three hours of interrogation by French authorities about her relationship. She was released, but her actions had tarnished her public image.” 12 For the next ten years, Chanel spent her time in a state of self-forced exile from the Parisian community.
It was not until 1954 that the seventy year-old Chanel initiated a world-wide comeback. She launched a new clothing line based on her old designs. It was not received in high regards at first, but within a year was desired by women across the world. Chanel had recovered her past prominence and legendary rank.
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During the 1920s, Coco Chanel became the first designer to create loose women’s jersey, traditionally used for men’s underwear, creating a relaxed style for women ignoring the stiff corseted look of the time. They soon became very popular with clients, a post-war generation of women for whom the corseted restricted clothing seemed oldfashioned and impractical. By the 1920s, Maison Chanel was established at 31, rue Cambon in Paris (which remains its headquarters to this day) and become a fashion force to be reckoned with. Chanel became a style icon herself with her striking bob haircut and tan placing her at the cutting edge of modern style. In 1922, she launched the fragrance Chanel No. 5, which remains popular to this day. Two years later, Pierre Wertheimer became her business partner (taking on 70% of the fragrance
business), and reputedly her lover. The Wertheimers continue to control the perfume company today.
In 1925, Chanel launched her signature cardigan jacket, and the following year matched its success with her little black dress. Both items continue to be a staple part of every Chanel collection.
During World War II, Chanel was a nurse, although her post-war popularity was greatly diminished by her affair with a Nazi officer during the conflict and she moved to Switzerland to escape the controversy.
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quite the
AHEAD OF HER TIME
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abriel “Coco” Chanel single-handedly created a fashion empire fancied by women around the world. She revolutionized women’s fashion. Her designs included simple suits and dresses, women’s trousers, costume jewelry and perfume. She replaced the corset with comfortable and casual elegance. The clothes that she created changed the way woman looked and how they looked at themselves. Before, women wore a strict style of uncomfortable clothing that they believed made them look like the ideal woman. It was rare for people to stray from this look. Chanel bridged this gap by creating an entirely new look; one initially inspired by that of menswear. Women went from wearing tight dresses to the freedom of a pair of pants. Chanel was not only ahead of her time, but she was ahead of herself.
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In 1998, Time magazine ranked Chanel among the one hundred most influential people of the century-along with such luminaries as Pablo Picasso, T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, and Martha Graham. If she had been merely a fashion designer, like her contemporaries Jeanne Lanvin, Jean Patou, Paul Poiret-whose names by then had faded into fashion history — she never would have made that list. But she wasn’t just a couturière. She was Chanel.
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