Coco Chanel Biography: An Icon Of Elegance

Today we’ll talk about the biography of Coco Chanel, a legend in the fashion world. Many consider her the most important stylist of the 20th century. She changed the world of women’s fashion forever, mainly because she was the first to champion the idea that women could also wear men’s clothing.

It was also Coco Chanel who overturned the myth that fashion must have a lot of paraphernalia and extravagance, popularizing simplicity and comfort, criteria that remain current. Although that was not her real purpose, she is one of the personalities who contributed the most to feminism.

Coco Chanel’s life was very controversial. As is often the case with great figures, she had several painful experiences that began in her childhood. Despite this, she has become a great designer, entrepreneur, leader and also a center of scandal on several occasions.

The first years of Coco Chanel’s biography

Coco Chanel was born in an asylum in Saumur, France, on August 19, 1883. Her real name was Gabrielle, given by the nuns at the establishment. She was the daughter  of a street vendor and a peasant woman with few financial resources. She had four siblings: Antoinette, Alphonse, Lucien and Augustin, who died at birth.

They all grew up in miserable conditions. His mother  suffered from asthma and received little care . She died of bronchitis when Coco was 11 years old. After that, Coco and her sister were sent to a nun-run charity home. There, they were subjected to extreme discipline, but learned to embroider, sew and iron.

At 18, Coco was sent to another boarding school in Moulins, where she met her aunt Adrianne, just two years her senior. The two became inseparable until death.

For Coco Chanel, her sad and miserable past was a source of shame . She often made up stories to try to hide it.

from apprentice to master

With her aunt Adrianne, Coco Chanel began working as an assistant to a tailor in Moulins. There, they honed their sewing skills and learned how to make hats.

Gabrielle also liked to sing, and even got a contract to do it. She was always asked to sing the song Quem saw Coco at Trocadéro ? ( Qui qu’a vu Coco dans l’Trocadéro? ). From there, she adopted the pseudonym that would make her famous.

She began designing and later selling hats, achieving remarkable success. At that time, she met Etienne Balsan, with whom she fell in love. It was he who introduced her to environments of luxury and extravagance. He took her to horse races, which made her decide to order pants from a tailor to get comfortable.

Coco and Etienne went to Paris together. There she met Arthur Capel. With his and Etienne’s help, Coco opened her first formal hat business. In 1910, thanks to Capel, she founded the first Chanel mansion in Paris. Finally, he moved in with Capel, with whom he had fallen in love a long time ago.

an unquestionable success

From then on, everything was a success for Coco Chanel. Her fame started to grow and she, who never shied away from challenges, consolidated her style more and more. Simplicity, comfort and boldness have become its trademark. She became pregnant with her partner, but ended up aborting the baby, and thus lost forever the possibility of becoming a mother.

After 8 years, Arthur Capel left her to marry a noblewoman. After a while, he left his wife and returned to Coco. Later, Coco designed a wedding dress for her sister. However, because of her unhappiness with the marriage, her sister committed suicide. Since then, the Chanel brand has never designed wedding dresses again.

In 1919, Capel, his great love, died in a car accident. Coco Chanel lived through difficult days, but then went back to work. She then introduced the use of rabbit fur on clothing, which was a resounding success. Later, she met Igor Stravinski and the two fell madly in love.

The unexpected end of Coco Chanel’s biography

The relationship with Igor Stravinski lasted for some time, but he was married. Coco Chanel then met Duke Dimitri, a nobleman expelled from Russia who had been one of the assassins of the famous Rasputin. The two started having an affair. He presented her with the pearls of the Romanov dynasty he had managed to save. Coco started a fashion from that gift.

Later, she introduced the fashion for the knee length skirt, as until then only the long skirt was used. In 1921, she launched her famous Chanel No. 5 perfume, containing 80 components. It has become a classic. She also launched the fashion for the “black dress”, which was previously only worn for mourning.

She later became the official designer for MGM in Hollywood. In 1934, she became engaged to Paul Iribe, who died shortly afterwards of a heart attack. She then had an affair with a German officer.

He continued to be successful until he was 80 years old, when he called his maid and said, “ See? That’s how you die” , and he died.