Coco Chanel

Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel (19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971)

“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.”

– Coco Chanel

Coco Chanel was a leading French modernist designer, whose patterns of simplicity and style revolutionised women’s clothing. She was the only designer to be listed in the Time 100 most influential people of the Twentieth Century. In the 1960s, a Broadway musical was made about her life starring Katharine Hepburn

It was in the 1920s, that Coco Chanel left a lasting mark on Women’s fashion and design. Up until the First World War, women’s clothing had been quite restrictive and tended to involve full length skirts which were impractical for many activities. Coco Chanel helped create women’s clothing that was simpler and more practical. She also introduced trousers and suits for women – something which had not been done before.

“Fashion has become a joke. The designers have forgotten that there are women inside the dresses. Most women dress for men and want to be admired. But they must also be able to move, to get into a car without bursting their seams! Clothes must have a natural shape.“

– Coco Chanel

She also created her famous Chanel No.5 scent and this has been a lasting trademark.

Most sources suggest she was born in 1883, though this was a closely guarded fact – with Coco not keen on revealing her birth date.

Orphaned from an early age, she worked with her sister in a milliner in Deauville. Later, she opened a shop in 1912 and after a spell of nursing during the first world war founded a couture house in the Rue Cambon in Paris.

More and source: http://www.biographyonline.net/artists/coco-chanel.html