Coco Chanel Biography
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 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. Coco Chanel 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".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. “In 1919 I woke up famous. I’d never guessed it. If I’d known I was famous, I’d have stolen away and wept. I was stupid. I was supposed to be intelligent. I was sensitive and very dumb.”
It was in the post war period that she felt the need for a revolution in women’s clothes. She began by liberating women from the bondage of the corset and encouraged a casual but elegant range of clothes. With a black sweater and 10 rows of pearls Chanel revolutionized fashion’
Coco Chanel the 1920s were a significant period of liberation for women. It was a decade where women received the vote in several western countries. It was also a time, when women were increasingly seen in professions and jobs, previously the reserve of men. Her fashion symbolised some of these social and political changes. Significant items of clothing Coco Chanel helped pioneer included: The bias cut dress – labelled a Ford by one critic because everyone had one. The shoe string shoulder strap. The floating evening scarf, The wearing together of junk and real jewels.
In 1938 she retired from the fashion business. However, 16 years later she made a determined comeback after becoming fed up at seeing French fashion become dominated by men. Her first post war collection was not well received by the critics but it proved immensely popular with the general public. Rich and famous women once again adopted the Chanel look and she had shown her lasting influence on the industry. In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.
She prided herself on her great taste, fashion and practicality combined with an awareness of what people wanted. It was this that made her the most recognisable name in world fashion.
At the start of the Second World War in 1939, Chanel closed her shops stating that war was not a time for fashion. 3,000 of her workers lost her jobs – it was seen as partly retaliation for previous conflicts with workers, where her workers had sought better wages and conditions. During the German occupation of Paris, Chanel was involved in a romantic liaison with a German officer, Hans Gunther von Dincklage. This helped her to gain a luxury apartment in the Ritz for the duration of the war. Combined with her political beliefs which expressed sympathy for various aspects of the German cause, Chanel’s wartime record has been placed under much scrutiny. In September 1944, she was interrogated by the Free French Purge Committee, the épuration. She was released due to lack of evidence. Some sources suggest that Winston Churchill directly intervened to enable Chanel to be released – Churchill was possibly worried that if sent to trial, Chanel would embarrass the government with her links to top ranking Nazi’s and sympathisers in the British establishment. After the war, Chanel moved to Switzerland where she resided until 1954. The post-war period saw the emergence of new male designers, such as Christian Dior, who began to eclipse Chanel’s branding. However, in 1954, she returned to Paris and reopened her couture house. Her post-war label was successful in America and Britain, but less so in France. Many Frenchmen continued to hold her record against her.
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 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. Coco Chanel 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".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. “In 1919 I woke up famous. I’d never guessed it. If I’d known I was famous, I’d have stolen away and wept. I was stupid. I was supposed to be intelligent. I was sensitive and very dumb.”
It was in the post war period that she felt the need for a revolution in women’s clothes. She began by liberating women from the bondage of the corset and encouraged a casual but elegant range of clothes. With a black sweater and 10 rows of pearls Chanel revolutionized fashion’
Coco Chanel the 1920s were a significant period of liberation for women. It was a decade where women received the vote in several western countries. It was also a time, when women were increasingly seen in professions and jobs, previously the reserve of men. Her fashion symbolised some of these social and political changes. Significant items of clothing Coco Chanel helped pioneer included: The bias cut dress – labelled a Ford by one critic because everyone had one. The shoe string shoulder strap. The floating evening scarf, The wearing together of junk and real jewels.
In 1938 she retired from the fashion business. However, 16 years later she made a determined comeback after becoming fed up at seeing French fashion become dominated by men. Her first post war collection was not well received by the critics but it proved immensely popular with the general public. Rich and famous women once again adopted the Chanel look and she had shown her lasting influence on the industry. In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.
She prided herself on her great taste, fashion and practicality combined with an awareness of what people wanted. It was this that made her the most recognisable name in world fashion.
At the start of the Second World War in 1939, Chanel closed her shops stating that war was not a time for fashion. 3,000 of her workers lost her jobs – it was seen as partly retaliation for previous conflicts with workers, where her workers had sought better wages and conditions. During the German occupation of Paris, Chanel was involved in a romantic liaison with a German officer, Hans Gunther von Dincklage. This helped her to gain a luxury apartment in the Ritz for the duration of the war. Combined with her political beliefs which expressed sympathy for various aspects of the German cause, Chanel’s wartime record has been placed under much scrutiny. In September 1944, she was interrogated by the Free French Purge Committee, the épuration. She was released due to lack of evidence. Some sources suggest that Winston Churchill directly intervened to enable Chanel to be released – Churchill was possibly worried that if sent to trial, Chanel would embarrass the government with her links to top ranking Nazi’s and sympathisers in the British establishment. After the war, Chanel moved to Switzerland where she resided until 1954. The post-war period saw the emergence of new male designers, such as Christian Dior, who began to eclipse Chanel’s branding. However, in 1954, she returned to Paris and reopened her couture house. Her post-war label was successful in America and Britain, but less so in France. Many Frenchmen continued to hold her record against her.
This is where Coco Chanel opened her boutique!
Coco was born here... And she died in Paris...
They call her “the Mozart of fashion.”
Actually, they were calling 14-year-old Cecilia Cassini of Encino, Calif. that when she was 10 and then beginning to take the fashion world by storm, designing for such celebrities asTaylor Swift, Sofia Vergera, Miley Cyrus, Kelly Osborne and Heidi Klum.
Billed as “the youngest fashion designer in the country,” by the age of 12 Cecilia was starring on the Style Network show, “Confessions of a Fashionette” during the middle of New York
Fashion Week where she was trailed by a German TV crew.
“I started designing when I was four years old when I started cutting up clothing and began re-purposing the material,” says Cecilia, who is Latina on her mom Michelle‟s side and Italian from her dad Lionel‟s family.
“I then asked
for a sewing machine when I was 6 years old and have been designing ever
since.”
And that first piece of clothing Cecilia cut up was no ordinary dress. It was a Betsey Johnson design.
There‟s a story behind the sewing machine,” says her mother, Michelle D
e Castro Cassini, a
yoga instructor. “Cecilia‟s older sister Annabelle was given a dress by their grandmother.
Cecilia adored that dress and wanted it, and we were stunned one day to find that she had cut it down to fit her and put it together with pins.
“‟Well, if I had a sewing machine,‟ she told us, „I could have sewn it to look so much better.‟”
So for her sixth birthday, Cecilia received a sewing machine.Teen designer Cecilia Cassini had her start at trunk shows By the age of 10, Cecilia Cassini was the toast of trunk shows at up scale Los Angeles boutiques and, along the way, attracted the attention of agent Pilar DeMann, who now
represents her and whom the Los Angeles Times describes as “the woman who plotted the Kardashians‟ path from C-level obscurity to branding juggernaut.”
Michelle and Lionel, her parents, a photographer, have made sure to keep their youngest of three children grounded.
Much of Cecilia's earnings from her trunk shows is contributed to homeless shelters, and the
young designer donates her time and creations to helping give underprivileged children back-to-school clothes.
This year she was California‟s middle
school recipient of Prudential‟s Spirit of Community
Award for her volunteer work.Somehow, Cecilia also finds time to play competitive tennis, and this coming fall she will be a cheerleader at Sierra Canyon High School in Chatsworth.
And still, Cecilia also manages to make mostly A‟s in school, while never bringing home any
homework.
“While everyone‟s at recess, I go in the library and do my homework,” she says, “so when I get home from school I can sew for the rest of the day.”
“Education is still first,” says Lionel Cassini. “At the same time, if she can start on a career path so that she already has something when she‟s 20, why shouldn't we encourage it?”
And to hear Cecilia tell it, if anyone was born to be a designer, it was her.
“I have known that I wanted to be a fashion designer from the second I was born,” says
Cecilia, who talks as if ahead of her years, a big smile on her face and often a large fabric rose signature flourish in her hair. Her mum and dad remember much of the same.
“When she was a baby, before she could walk, before she could talk, she was pointing to the outfits she wanted,” said Michelle. “As soon as she could use scissors, she was turning
clothes into something new.”
There has also been no denying she is different at school. When she was seven, she wrote her first letter to her idol Coco Chanel. When she was eight, she designed a logo based on the Eiffel Tower. In the third-grade, she wrote a book report on consummate fashionista novel
that became a film, “The Devil Wears Prada.”
“I am definitely the belle of the ball every day at my school,” she says. “What other girls
would wear to a party is what I wear to school.
“I don‟t want to be like everybody else. I want to be me and let my personality come out.” To that end, Cecilia‟s girls line
retailing for $60-$150 and sold through Fred Segal Santa Monica are brilliantly-coloured, extravagantly-patterned dresses decorated with ruffle sand bows of all sizes.
“My signature piece is my big
bow dress,” says Cecilia. “Bows are chic, and they add
something amazing to everything. “I'm bringing a very modern, high fashion look for kids from a kid‟s eye. I want to be
the Coco Chanel for kids, and I know what girls my age want to wear.”
Cecilia Cassini makes her mark in fashion at age 10…
Actually, they were calling 14-year-old Cecilia Cassini of Encino, Calif. that when she was 10 and then beginning to take the fashion world by storm, designing for such celebrities asTaylor Swift, Sofia Vergera, Miley Cyrus, Kelly Osborne and Heidi Klum.
Billed as “the youngest fashion designer in the country,” by the age of 12 Cecilia was starring on the Style Network show, “Confessions of a Fashionette” during the middle of New York
Fashion Week where she was trailed by a German TV crew.
“I started designing when I was four years old when I started cutting up clothing and began re-purposing the material,” says Cecilia, who is Latina on her mom Michelle‟s side and Italian from her dad Lionel‟s family.
“I then asked
for a sewing machine when I was 6 years old and have been designing ever
since.”
And that first piece of clothing Cecilia cut up was no ordinary dress. It was a Betsey Johnson design.
There‟s a story behind the sewing machine,” says her mother, Michelle D
e Castro Cassini, a
yoga instructor. “Cecilia‟s older sister Annabelle was given a dress by their grandmother.
Cecilia adored that dress and wanted it, and we were stunned one day to find that she had cut it down to fit her and put it together with pins.
“‟Well, if I had a sewing machine,‟ she told us, „I could have sewn it to look so much better.‟”
So for her sixth birthday, Cecilia received a sewing machine.Teen designer Cecilia Cassini had her start at trunk shows By the age of 10, Cecilia Cassini was the toast of trunk shows at up scale Los Angeles boutiques and, along the way, attracted the attention of agent Pilar DeMann, who now
represents her and whom the Los Angeles Times describes as “the woman who plotted the Kardashians‟ path from C-level obscurity to branding juggernaut.”
Michelle and Lionel, her parents, a photographer, have made sure to keep their youngest of three children grounded.
Much of Cecilia's earnings from her trunk shows is contributed to homeless shelters, and the
young designer donates her time and creations to helping give underprivileged children back-to-school clothes.
This year she was California‟s middle
school recipient of Prudential‟s Spirit of Community
Award for her volunteer work.Somehow, Cecilia also finds time to play competitive tennis, and this coming fall she will be a cheerleader at Sierra Canyon High School in Chatsworth.
And still, Cecilia also manages to make mostly A‟s in school, while never bringing home any
homework.
“While everyone‟s at recess, I go in the library and do my homework,” she says, “so when I get home from school I can sew for the rest of the day.”
“Education is still first,” says Lionel Cassini. “At the same time, if she can start on a career path so that she already has something when she‟s 20, why shouldn't we encourage it?”
And to hear Cecilia tell it, if anyone was born to be a designer, it was her.
“I have known that I wanted to be a fashion designer from the second I was born,” says
Cecilia, who talks as if ahead of her years, a big smile on her face and often a large fabric rose signature flourish in her hair. Her mum and dad remember much of the same.
“When she was a baby, before she could walk, before she could talk, she was pointing to the outfits she wanted,” said Michelle. “As soon as she could use scissors, she was turning
clothes into something new.”
There has also been no denying she is different at school. When she was seven, she wrote her first letter to her idol Coco Chanel. When she was eight, she designed a logo based on the Eiffel Tower. In the third-grade, she wrote a book report on consummate fashionista novel
that became a film, “The Devil Wears Prada.”
“I am definitely the belle of the ball every day at my school,” she says. “What other girls
would wear to a party is what I wear to school.
“I don‟t want to be like everybody else. I want to be me and let my personality come out.” To that end, Cecilia‟s girls line
retailing for $60-$150 and sold through Fred Segal Santa Monica are brilliantly-coloured, extravagantly-patterned dresses decorated with ruffle sand bows of all sizes.
“My signature piece is my big
bow dress,” says Cecilia. “Bows are chic, and they add
something amazing to everything. “I'm bringing a very modern, high fashion look for kids from a kid‟s eye. I want to be
the Coco Chanel for kids, and I know what girls my age want to wear.”
Cecilia Cassini makes her mark in fashion at age 10…
THIS, is Cecilia Cassini
Is it just me or did Marylin Monroe live here on 882 Doheny Drive Beverly Hills USA