Coco Chanel
Fashion Designer
Name at birth: Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel
Designer Coco Chanel gave the world the little black dress, Chanel No. 5 perfume, and the revolutionary notion that style could be both classic and casual. Coco -- a nickname meaning "little pet" -- was raised in an orphanage, where she learned to sew. In 1910 she began selling hats from her own shop, and by the 1920s her fashion business had expanded to include a couture house, her own textile factory and a line of perfumes that included the famous No. 5. Chanel took women's fashions away from stiff corsets and introduced casual, practical clothing that borrowed fabrics and attitudes from men's fashion. She was the first to introduce black as a fashion color; her versatile, semi-formal "little black dress" became a Chanel trademark and an enduring fashion standard. During and after World War II Chanel's popularity waned, and her love affair with a Nazi officer sent her into a form of self-imposed exile in Switzerland for nearly 15 years. She made a comeback in 1954 and her designs became some of the most popular in the western world, especially in the United States. After her death the Coco Chanel Company was directed by designer Karl Lagerfeld.
Extra credit: Katharine Hepburn portrayed Chanel on Broadway in the musical Coco (1969, also with René Auberjonois)... Chanel was also played by Shirley MacLaine in a 2008 movie on the Lifetime Channel.
Other fashion designers include Stella McCartney, Gianni Versace and Calvin Klein.
Blog posts mentioning Coco Chanel:
Four Good Links
Chanel.com
Glossy official site of her enduring company
Coco Chanel
Her profile from Time's Top 100 Artists and Entertainers
The Story of Chanel
Photos, history and descriptions of her products
Coco Chanel: Innovator and Icon
Describes her influence on the fashion world
Vital Stats
Birth
Birthplace
Death
10 January 1971
(age 87)
Best Known As
The designer who created the "little black dress"
