...Establishment and recognition: 1909 through 1920s In 1909, Gabrielle Chanel opened a shop on the ground floor of Étienne Balsan's apartment in Paris—the beginnings of what would later become one of the greatest fashion empires in the world.[1] The Balsan home was a meeting place of the hunting elite of France and the gentlemen brought their fashionable mistresses along, giving Coco the opportunity to sell the women decorated hats. During this time, Coco Chanel struck up a relationship with Arthur 'Boy' Capel, a member of the Balsan men's group. He saw a businesswoman in Coco and helped her acquire her location at 31 Rue Cambon in Paris by 1910.[1] There was already a couture shop in the building, and so Coco was not allowed in her lease to produce couture dresses.[1] In 1912, Coco Chanel opened her first millinery shop in Paris and in 1913, Chanel introduced women's sportswear at her new boutique in Deauville and Biarritz, France. Chanel's designs tended to be simple rather than opulent in look. She detested the fashions of women who came to these resort towns.[1][3] World War I affected fashion. Coal was scarce and women were doing the factory jobs that men had held prior to the war; they needed warm clothing that would stand up to working conditions. Chanel fossella's designs from this era were affected by the new idea of women's sports. During World War I, Coco opened another larger shop on Rue Cambon in front of the Hôtel Ritz Paris.[1] Here she sold flannel blazers, straight...
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...Chanel ------------------------------------------------- World War II In 1939, at the beginning of World War II, Chanel closed her shops, maintaining her apartment situated above the couture house at 31 rue Cambon. She claimed that it was not a time for fashion.[18] Three thousand female employees lost their jobs.[39] The advent of war had given Chanel the opportunity to retaliate against those workers who, lobbying for fair wages and work hours, had closed down her business operation during the general labor strike in France in 1936. In closing her couture house, Chanel made a definitive statement of her political views. Her violent loathing of Jews, inculcated by her convent years and sharpened by her association with society elites had solidified her beliefs. She shared with most of her circle the conviction that Jews were a Bolshevik threat to Europe.[39] During the German occupation Chanel resided at the Hotel Ritz, which was also noteworthy for being the preferred place of residence for upper echelon German military staff. Her romantic liaison with Hans Günther von Dincklage, a German officer who had been an operative in military intelligence since 1920,[40] facilitated her arrangement to reside at the Ritz.[41] World War II, specifically the Nazi seizure of all Jewish-owned property and business enterprises, provided Chanel with the opportunity to gain the full monetary fortune generated by "Parfums Chanel" and its most profitable product, Chanel No. 5. The directors...
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...In 1909, Gabrielle Chanel opened a shop on the ground floor of Étienne Balsan's apartment in Paris—the beginnings of what would later become one of the greatest fashion empires in the world.[2] The Balsan home was a meeting place of the hunting elite of France and the gentlemen brought their fashionable mistresses along, giving Coco the opportunity to sell the women decorated hats. During this time, Coco Chanel struck up a good relationship with Arthur 'Boy' Capel, a member of the Balsan men's group. He saw a businesswoman in Coco and helped her acquire her location at 31 Rue Cambon in Paris by 1910.[2] There was already a couture shop in the building, and so Coco was not allowed in her lease to produce couture dresses.[2] In 1912, Coco Chanel opened her first millinery shop in Paris and in 1913, Chanel introduced women's sportswear at her new boutique in Deauville and Biarritz, France. Chanel's designs tended to be simple rather than opulent in look. She detested the fashions of women who came to these resort towns.[2][5] World War I affected fashion. Coal was scarce and women were doing the factory jobs that men had held prior to the war; they needed warm clothing that would stand up to working conditions. Chanel fossella's designs from this era were affected by the new idea of women's sports. During World War I, Coco opened another larger shop on Rue Cambon in front of the Hôtel Ritz Paris.[2] Here she sold flannel blazers, straight linen skirts, sailor tops, long jersey sweaters...
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...Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971)[1] was an influential French fashion designer, founder of the famous brand Chanel, whose modernist thought, practical design, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her an important and influential figure in 20th-century fashion. She was the only fashion designer to be named on Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century.[2] Legacy as design revolutionary As early as 1915, Harper's Bazaar raved over Chanel’s designs: “The woman who hasn’t at least one Chanel is hopelessly out of fashion…This season the name Chanel is on the lips of every buyer.” [62] Chanel’s ascendancy as a fashion avatar was the official deathblow to the corseted female silhouette. The frills, fuss, and constraints endured by earlier generations of women were now passé. Her genius redefined the fashionable woman for the post WW I era. The Chanel trademark was a look of youthful ease, a liberated physicality, and unencumbered sportive confidence. The horse culture and penchant for hunting so passionately pursued by the elites, especially the British, fired Chanel’s imagination. Her own enthusiastic indulgence in the sporting life led to clothing designs informed by those activities. From her excursions on water with the yachting world, she appropriated the clothing associated with nautical pursuits: the horizontal striped shirt, bell bottom pants, crewneck sweaters, and espadrille shoes—all traditionally worn by sailors and fishermen...
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...Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, know as, Coco Chanel, was born on the 19th of August, 1883 in Saumur, a small city in France. She was born in a poorhouse to traveling salesman Albert Chanel and Jeanne Devolle. She had two sisters, Julie and Antoinette, and three brothers, Alphonse, Lucien and Augustine. When Chanel was just twelve years old her mother died, leaving her father to care for the six children. He left a short time later, and for the next seven years, Coco was in the orphanage of the Catholic monastery of Aubazine. It was here that she learned the trade of a seamstress. When Chanel turned seventeen the nuns helped her to find a local job as a seamstress. Chanel soon became bored and decided to pursue a life of excitement and stardom. She unexpectedly took off for the town of Moulins to pursue her career as a Cabaret singer. Unfortunately Chanel was not cut out for a life in theatre; however it was whilst singing that she adopted the name Coco. This nickname had been given to her by her audience for her songs “Ko Ko Ri Ko” and “Qui qu’a vu Coco”. Although Coco had not been able to make a life for herself as a cabaret singer it was a very worthwhile experience as it there that she met Etienne Balsan, who took a liking to the young aspiring singer. Chanel soon found herself as a mistress to Balsan and living a luxurious life. This was when the “Coco Chanel” we all know began to arise. While Coco was living with Balsan, she began to design hats as a hobby. Her hats...
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...shrewd, chic and on the cutting edge. The clothes she created changed the way women looked and how they looked at themselves.” By INGRID SISCHY Coco 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 Lang, Miuccia Prada, Jil Sander and Donatella Versace, one sees that many of their strategies echo what Chanel once did. The way, 75 years ago, she mixed up the vocabulary of male and female clothes and created fashion that offered the wearer a feeling of hidden luxury rather than ostentation are just two examples of how her taste and sense of style overlap with today's fashion. Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist philosophy, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her an important figure in 20th-century fashion. She was the founder of the famous fashion brand Chanel. Her extraordinary influence on fashion was such that she was the only person in the field to be named on TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Chanel was born on 19 August 1883 in the small city of Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France. She was the second daughter of traveling salesman Albert Chanel and Jeanne Devolle. Coco was born in a peasant village. Her birth was recorded the following day. Two employees of the hospice went to city hall and declared...
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...Coco Chanel From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For the 2008 television film, see Coco Chanel (film). Coco Chanel | Chanel, 1920 | Born | Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel (1883-08-19)19 August 1883 Saumur, France | Died | 10 January 1971(1971-01-10) (aged 87) Paris, France | Nationality | French | Education | Catholic Monastery in Aubazine | Occupation | Fashion designer | Awards | Neiman Marcus Fashion Award, 1957 | | Labels | Chanel | Gabrielle "Coco" Bonheur Chanel (August 19, 1883 – January 10, 1971)[1] was a French fashion designer and founder of the Chanel brand. She was the only fashion designer to appear on Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.[2] Along with Paul Poiret, Chanel was credited with liberating women from the constraints of the "corseted silhouette" and popularizing the acceptance of a sportive, casual chic as the feminine standard in the post-World War I era. A prolific fashion creator, Chanel’s influence extended beyond couture clothing. Her design aesthetic was realized in jewelry, handbags, and fragrance. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5 became an iconic product, one irrevocably identified with The House of Chanel. A woman of French peasant stock, convent bred, Chanel adhered to one constant in her life—a determination to rise above her humble origins. Her indefatigable energy and talent in her chosen trade combined ultimately to achieve both the business success and social prominence...
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...interested in Coco Chanel?" and if I'm honest, I was fascinated long before I started researching her biography more than a decade ago, all the way back to my earliest memories in childhood. For there on top of my mother's dressing table stood a bottle of Chanel No. 5, beyond my reach but not out of sight, and I knew from the moment I began to discern its mysterious letters and number that there was something magical to the black-and-white cipher. I'm not alone in that discovery -- Chanel has come to represent the essence of everywoman, whether in the scent of her perfume or her choice of bold red lipstick or the perfect little black dress -- but the story of Coco feels somehow entwined with my own as a writer. And so it was that I found myself on a journey, following clues that Chanel had kept hidden in her long life as a couturiere and fashion icon while also trying to make sense of the unhappy end of my marriage, the latter disaster coinciding with my signing a publishing contract. Thereafter, in the process of uncovering the truth about Coco Chanel, I was -- without quite knowing it at the time -- recovering from an unforeseen emotional unraveling. Now, in retrospect, I'm beginning to see that I could not have written my book on Coco Chanel without that personal experience of loss; nor would I have found a way forward for myself without looking back at the example set by Mademoiselle Chanel. The trail began in Paris at 31 Rue Cambon, the backbone of the House of Chanel, where the...
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...INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL SETTINGS / DESIGNER CASE STUDY RESEARCH TASK FASHION DESIGN Fashion design - brand : CHANEL History of Chanel No.5 Chanel No.5 is the first perfume launched by French couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel in 5 May, 1921. The chemical formula for the fragrance was compounded by French-Russian chemist and perfumer Ernest Beaux. The number 5 to Coco Chanel means good luck. She released this perfume on the 5th day of the 5th month and it's main sent is May rose and jasmine. Coco's famous quote on Chanel No.5 is “what is very important in a fragrance, is that the fragrance has some kind of mystery” The Chanel No.5 journey starts of in the fields of May roses at the Mul family's generations-old flower farm, in Pégomas, France. The weather is perfect for growing and picking roses: fresh and not too warm. Every single rose that goes into each bottle of No. 5 parfum is harvested by hand right there. A 30mL bottle of No. 5 parfum contains 1,000 jasmine flowers and 12 May roses - all from this same field. On average, it takes an hour and 20 minutes for a flower to go from being plucked in the field to being processed in the factory. Workers gently place the roses in the pockets of their aprons and transfer them into big burlap sacks; once these sacks are full, they’re loaded onto flatbed trailers and pulled by tractor back to the plant. Jean-Francois Vieille, a cousin of Joseph Mul’s, oversees operations at the prettily landscaped Sotraflor...
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...Gabrielle Chanel was born in the French town of Saumur on the 19th of August 1883. She was one of 5 children and when her mother died; her father couldn’t manage on his own so the girls went to an orphanage and the boys to work on a farm. Gabrielle stayed at the orphanage and visited grandparents on holidays until 1900 when she moved in with them. She went to a local convent school with her aunt Adrienne who was almost the same age as Gabrielle, she remained a valued friend. Gabrielle and Adrienne learned to sew at the convent so were able to get jobs as dress makers when they had finished school. Gabrielle’s earliest ambition was to be on stage and during her time off from work she was a regular cafe and bar singer, through this she gained the nick name Coco from singing her own version of a song called ‘Qui qu’a vu coco?’. Through this circuit Chanel met Etienne Baslan, a wealthy military officer; she became his mistress and went to live with him when she was aged 25. Chanel’s appearance was always very modest and neat, very different to that of Baslan’s rich friends who were always very made up with lace and frills. Baslan owned alot of horses and was into horse racing, Chanel learnt to ride whilst living with him, women traditionally wore side saddle skirts yet Chanel could be found in the same masculine clothes as the stable hands, first showing her rebellion in fashion which eventually translated in her collections. One of Chanels passions was trimming her own shop bought...
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...Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel By Cynthia On August 19th 1883, a beautiful girl was born in Auvergne. She is a trendsetter in 1900s, and she set up the CHANEL which is a very famous brand in the world. Her name is Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel. When she was 6 years old, her mother passed away, and her father left her alone, so she grew up with her aunt. She studied in Convent School in her childhood, and she learned needlework skills from there as well. In 1905, she became a Cafe singer named “Coco”, and sing for a living in different KTV or coffee houses. Dering this time, she made friend with two kinds of people, and became their bosom friend, one is rich officer, the other is English industrialist. In 1910, Coco had the first millinery shop in Paris. Because of her extraordinary needlework skills and her friends introduced many celebrities for her guests, just in one year, her business was rising. Then Coco moved her store to Rue Cambon, it is more fashionable than before, and this area still is the head office of Chanel so far. But only make hats were not content her ambitious for fashion, so she moved to higher level—Haute Couture. And in 1914, she opened two clothes stores, this is the brand was born which is influence deeply in the world. In 1920s, Chanel designed a lot of innovative style, such as tricot sailor dress, little black dress. Furthermore, she was also got new ideas from men’s clothing. Because of the women’ clothing were too gorgeous, so she put some men...
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...Coco Chanel At the start of the twentieth century, the idea of women in business seemed crazy. In those days, men held all the positions of power and made all the decisions about money. They believed that a woman’s place was in the home, looking after her children, cooking for her family and managing the house. If a woman needed to work she could perhaps find a job in a shop or in a factory, but she had no chance of working as a businesswoman or a banker or a lawyer. Women’s fashions in the US and Europe at that time supported this idea of their position in society. Fashionable women wore long dresses that almost touched the ground. This made it difficult for them to drive a car, ride a horse or even walk quickly. As a result, they needed men to arrange their travel for them. But many women weren’t happy with their position in society, and they didn’t like the clothes they had to wear either. One of these people was a Frenchwoman called Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel. Famed fashion designer Coco Chanel was born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel on August 19, 1883, in Saumur, France. With her trademark suits and little black dresses, Coco Chanel created timeless designs that are still popular today. Her early years, however, were anything but glamorous. After her mother’s death, Chanel was put in an orphanage by her father who worked as a peddler. She was raised by nuns who taught her how to sew—a skill that would lead to her life’s work. Her nickname came from another occupation entirely...
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...| Coco Chanel | | | | | BIOGRAPHY Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (1883 – 1971) Gabriella Chanel or Coco as she known for hundred million people around the world was came from nothing. She born on August 20, 1883 in a poorhouse in Saumur, France. The poorhouse employees misspelled her name so they recorded it with an "s" making it Chasnel, this misspelling made the tracing of her roots almost impossible for biographers when Chanel later became famous. She was illegitimate daughter of traveler market trader Albert Chanel. Her mother Jeanne Devolle died when she was twelve and her father disappeared. She and her two sisters were brought up to nuns' orphanage at Aubazine, and her brother were placed in a farm household to become unpaid child labor. Gabriella lived a rough childhood that lead her to made up things that does not exist. She reinvented her childhood claimed she was an only child even though her mother gave birth to four more children, she describe nasty aunt who pulled her ears and humiliated her. Chanel never spoke about her life at Aubazine. And after she became rich she paid off her brother to pretend they didn't exist. When she turned twenty Gabriella worked in a small boutique named The House of Grampayne, the summer she turned twenty-one she worked as a singer in famous opera house called La Rotonde. One of the songs Chanel sang was about a lady who lost her dog named "Coco", the nickname "Coco"...
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...Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel was a woman who invented some of the classic fashion pieces we wear today. Coco Chanel was a very popular fashion designer beginning her career as a hat maker in France during the time period of 1910- 1983. She was the creator of the brand Chanel which is now famous all around the world. Her life motto was, “If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing” ( Saltari and Manferto 23).The house of Chanel is still popular today and her clothing remains timeless. Three things that were noteworthy in Chanel’s life was her background, the launch of her brand, and her impact on designers today. Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel was born on August 19, 1883 in Saumur, France. Chanel’s parents were named Jeanne Devolle and Albert Chanel. Her mom passed away a few years after and Chanel’s father dumped her on the grounds of an orphange. She was raised by nuns there who taught her the work of a seamstress. Some people say that the C’s in her logo were...
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...designers who created a daring and lasting impression on women's fashion within the twentieth century, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel (1883–1971) deserves special recognition. Born in Saumur, France, Chanel survived an impoverished childhood and strict convent education. The difficulties of her adolescence inspired her to pursue a radical lifestyle, first by working on the stage, wherever she gained the nickname "Coco," and later as a milliner. With the help of Captain Arthur Edward 'Boy' Capel, who supplied key monetary assistance and social connections over the course of her career, Chanel opened her first boutique in Paris in 1913, followed by another within the city of Deauville. Commerce hats and a restricted line of clothes, Chanel's retailers developed an obsessive people WHO quickly created her sensible attire a good success. abundant of Chanel's article of clothing was made from jersey, a selection of cloth each uncommon and impressed. till the designer began to figure with it, jersey was additional normally used for public toilet underclothing. along...
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