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. During her brief career as a singer, Chanel performed in clubs in Vichy and Moulins where she was called “Coco.”

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel was born to an unmarried mother, Eugénie Jeanne Devolle – known as Jeanne – in Saumur, France. She was Jeanne's second child with Albert Chanel; the first, Julia, was born less than a year earlier. When Gabrielle was 12, her mother died of bronchitis at the age of 31. Gabrielle's father sent his two sons out to work as farm laborers and sent his three daughters to the Corrèze, in central France, to the convent of Aubazine. At age eighteen, Chanel, too old to remain at Aubazine, went to live in a boarding house set aside for Catholic girls in the town of Moulins.

Coco Chanel had no experience of business when she opened her first hat shop in Paris in 1910. She was only twenty-seven years old and she came from an ordinary family. When she left school, she worked for a dress marker for a short time. Her boyfriends were often rich young army officers. One of these was a handsome young Englishman with a big black moustache, called Boy Capel. When Coco asked him to lend her some money so she could open a shop, he was surprised. He had never heard of a woman in business before, but he liked the idea. Coco asked for enough money to open a shop in one of the best street in Paris, and he gave her the money that she wants. Many of Coco’s customers in her first shop were her rich young women friends. They loved the simple but beautiful hats that Coco made for them. Soon they were asking Coco for clothes that were designed in the same simple way. Coco hated the long dresses that fashionable women wore and so she was happy to make dresses and skirts that were shorter and reached just below the knee. She also persuaded her customers to wear loose jackets and blouses that allowed them to breathe more easily. Again, the rich, fashionable young women of Paris loved Coco’s new ideas, and her shop started do well.

In 1913, Coco asked Boy Capel for more money, because she wanted to open a second shop, this time in the French seaside town of Deauville. After her success in Paris, Coco was sure she could offer to people in Deauville something special. She was right. The young women in Deauville loved her simple hats, loose jackets, skirts and dresses that reached just below the knee. Coco made plenty of money in her first year and in second summer she expected to do even better. But then, for everyone in Europe, everything went wrong.

In August 1914 the First World War began. Many rich French families rushed from the north of France to the expensive hotels of Deauville to get away from the fighting. Some people were frightened, but most were in a good mood. ‘Don’t worry,’ they told each other. ‘The war will be finished by Christmas.’ But after a few weeks, it was clear that they were wrong. More and more men left Deauville to go and fight in the French army. Soon the expensive hotels were changed into hospitals, full of soldiers who had been hurt in the fighting. The rich Frenchwomen of Deauville saw that it was their duty to help the French army and many of them took jobs as nurses in the hospitals or did other kinds of war work. But after a few days they realized that it was impossible to work in their long dresses. They looked around for different things to wear. They found the answer in Coco Chanel’s new shop. Her simple hats, loose jackets and straight skirts were just what these women needed. They were stylish, but they allowed women to move around quickly. Coco was soon selling clothes as fast as she could make them.
For the next three years, Coco travelled between her businesses, while the First World War continued in the north and east of France. By 1916, over three hundred people were working for her. She soon made so much money that she could pay back Boy Capek all that she had borrowed. Coco had been lucky because the war had given her a chance to make her new designs popular. When the war is finished, in November 1918, Coco was ready to start the next and most successful part of her business life.

Coco’s business grew and grew. But Coco didn’t just think about clothes. She started going into other businesses. Coco’s best decision was to go into the cosmetics business. She believed that cosmetics were very important. So in the early 1920s, she went to see a man called Pierre Wertheimer to discuss her plan. Wertheimer owned the biggest perfume factory in France and he was very happy to work with such a famous designer. Together Wertheimer and Chanel invented a new kind of perfume, named Chanel No.5, the most successful perfume of the past hundred years. Today, Chanel S.A. operates some 310 Chanel stores world wisely, and it is famous cosmetic store. ; 94 in Asia, 70 in Europe, 10 in the Middle East, 128 in North America, 2 in South America, and 6 in Oceania. The shops are located in wealthy communities, usually in department stores, high streets, shopping districts, and inside airports.