COCO CHANEL(19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971)

BAHAAR ZAMINDARSEM - III

Introduction• Gabrielle "Coco" Bonheur Chanel (19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) 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.

• 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, has become an iconic product.

Early life• The Chanel family did not have money. • No one knew how to spell Chanel so the mayor improvised and recorded it with an "s," making it Chasnel.

• When Gabrielle was twelve, her mother died of tuberculosis, and her father disappeared.

• School vacations were spent with relatives . Female relatives taught Coco to sew with more flourish than the nuns at the

monastery were able to demonstrate.

• When Coco turned eighteen, she left the orphanage.

• She found a job as a shopkeeper specializing in the lines and wares. Later she became a singer and dancer in a music hall, where she got the name Coco.

Career/Life Path

• Gabrielle adopted the name “Coco” during a brief stint as a singer in cafes and concert halls

• While working at a tailoring shop she met and soon began an affair with Etienne Balsan

• Coco left Etienne and took over his apartment in Paris.

• In 1908 she began selling hats from the basement shop in Etienne’s apartment.

• She was forced to close her shop.

• In 1909 Chanel met up with an estranged and former best friend of Etienne Balsan, Arthur "Boy" Capel.

• 1910 she opened second shop funded by boy Capel in Cambon, Paris.

• 1913 she opened a clothing shop in Deauville , France funded by Capel .

• 1915 Her reputation was firmly established, Chanel opens her first Couture House in Biarritz, France.

• In 1916 Coco Chanel became the first designer to create loose women’s clothing using jersey.

• In 1919 Chanel relocated one of her shops to 31 rue Cambon in Paris.

• Coco also lost her true love, Arthur “Boy” Capel in a tragic car accident.

• In 1922, she launched the iconic fragrance Chanel No. 5.

• In 1925 Chanel launched her signature cardigan jacket.

• In 1924 CHANEL presents the first makeup collection, featuring lip colours and face powders.

• In 1926 she created the “little black dress”.

• In 1931 at the personal request of Samuel Goldwyn, Gabrielle Chanel goes to Hollywood to create outfits for the leading stars of the silver screen.

• In 1939 Chanel closed all her shops except the one on Rue Cambon No. 31.

• In 1954 she returned to the fashion world after spending 15 years in Switzerland.

• In 1955 Chanel launches the iconic 2.55 quilted handbag.

• In 1957 Chanel was presented with the Neiman-Marcus Award.

Death• Coco Chanel died of a heart attack in her private suite at the Hotel

Ritz Paris on 10 January 1971, at the age of 87. She was buried in Switzerland and her tombstone is carved with lion heads representing her birth sign, Leo.

Chanel Logo

• The Chanel logo, designed by Coco Chanel herself in 1925, consists of two interlocked and opposing letters “C” for her name, “Coco Chanel”.

• It remains unchanged since and at the same time, one of the most iconic logos in fashion industry.

• A popular story suggests that it was inspired by the original Château de Cremat logo; a pair of intertwined Cs. The Chanel logo was notregistered as a trademark until the first Chanel shops were built.

Chanel Stores

Fashions that Chanel Introduced to the world

- LITTLE BLACK DRESS

• All the famous innovations in fashion and design cannot outshine the fame of the single Chanel Little Black Dress. Coco Chanel introduced it in a time between the wars, when the bright colors, prints and heavy embroideries dominated the fashion.

The long-sleeved black dress, which was initially made for day in wool, and for evening in crepe, satin or velvet, shook up the world of fashion. Later appeared the other variations of a little black dress: short, sleeveless, in a pleated black chiffon, in black lace…

In 1926 American Vogue named Coco Chanel black dress "a Ford", meaning it’s simplicity and it’s potential for an enormous and long-lasting success. It was the little black dress of Chanel, that inspired the famous remark of her competitor Paul Poiret: "What has Chanel invented? De luxe poverty."

The Chanel little black dress became a symbol of chic and sophisticated simplicity.

- CHANEL N.5

• It was in 1921, that Coco Chanel had created the single most famous perfume in history, Chanel No.5.

• Chanel N.5 is the first designer perfume.

- COSTUME JEWELRY • Over the past years, we've seen a serious resurgence of cheap and chic

mega-jewels, from larger-than-life earrings to serious statement necklaces.

• But the pioneer of all of that faux bling is, without a doubt, Coco Chanel. The designer, who was rarely seen without a heaping pile of pearls around her neck, designed costume jewelry made from chains, beads, and glass that was meant to be worn with her casual daytime sportswear as early as the 1930s.

• Her reasoning was that if women could buy jewelry that was more affordable than real gemstones, they could properly accessorize every outfit they had, rather than sticking with a few simple pieces.

- TROUSERS

• It seems so simple now, doesn't it? You get up, you take a shower, you "put on your pants one leg at a time, just like everybody else..." but 80 years ago, that was a concept reserved strictly for bearers of XY chromosomes.

• Then along came Chanel, who decided that women should enjoy the same freedoms as men, and that binding corsets and skirts were physically holding them back. "I gave women a sense of freedom," she once said. "I gave them back their bodies: bodies that were drenched in sweat, due to fashion's finery, lace, corsets, underclothes, padding.“

• When she decided there was no comfortable way to ride a horse while wearing a long skirt, she literally took the pants off a male rider and made them her own.

- CHANEL’S SIGNATURE CARDIGAN JACKET

In 1925, Chanel launched her signature cardigan jacket.

- SAILOR TOPS

Nautical-inspired clothing is a classic look that beganwith Chanel's sailor tops. The navy blue and white stripes worn by French fishermen were the inspiration behind her design.

- MADE JERSEY FABRIC FASHIONABLE

Coco Chanel outraged the fashion industry in 1917 by snubbing uncomfortable chiffon andtaffeta fabrics and turning to jersey knit,which was deemed “cheap” and only used forundergarments at the time. She newfound mobility paved the way for women to enter the world of sports.

- POPULARIZED SUITES FOR WOMEN AND TURTLENECKLINES

- THE BOBBED HAIRSTYLE

- QUILTED BAG 1955, Gabrielle Chanel launches the iconic 2.55 quilted handbag,

naming the style after the date of its creation. Combining leather and gold chain, she invents a supple new style of shoulder strap that is uniquely strong and light, and that allows a woman’s hands to remain free.

- CHANEL TWEED SUIT

• Coco Chanel famously borrowed the masculine fabric and created the famed Chanel suit out of tweed during the 1920s. Even though tweed was a cheap fabric and Coco Chanel was selective, she adored the fabric and only used tweed produced by the Duke of Westminster's factory. She then lined the jacket in fur in order to increase the cost and subsequently its status.

• It was structured to feel like a cardigan, rather than a restrictive suit jacket. The differentiation were the silk lining stitched directly to the tweed, boxy cut and the three-part construction of the sleeves.

- CHANEL’S ‘BIJOUX DE DIAMANTS’• In 1932, Coco Chanel started a jewelry revolution. Up until then, the

designer had shown costume pieces worn with her clothing. But at her exhibit in Paris, "Bijoux de Diamants," she debuted Chanel's first fine jewelry: diamonds set in platinum.

- CHANEL GARDENIA FLOWER PERFUME

- TWO TONE FOOTWEAR

- CHANEL’S RED LIPSTIC

The “Roots” of Chanel Business• Coco Chanel sought financial help from Pierre Wertheimer to

market a fragrance she had developed in 1921

• Pierre Wertheimer funded the venture and retained a 70 percent ownership share in the Perfume company. Coco Chanel only got a 10 percent cut.

• Pierre Wertheimer wanted to protect his legal rights, but wished to avoid a court battle, and so, in 1947, he settled the dispute with Coco Chanel, giving her $400,000 and agreeing to pay her a 2 percent royalty on all Chanel products.

• At 70 years of age in 1954, Coco Chanel returned to Paris with the intent of restarting her fashion studio. She went to Pierre Wertheimer for advice and money, and he agreed to finance her plan in exchange for all rights to the Chanel name.

• To this day Chanel has expanded its line to include women's fashions, jewelry and accessories, handbags, leather goods, and other products. While its products are sold through third parties, Chanel also operates its own network of more than 80 company-owned retail stores worldwide. There are also more than 120 Chanel shop-in-shop boutiques in leading department stores around the world.

Chanel Today

• In 1983 Karl Lagerfeld took over as chief designer for Chanel. Like Chanel, he looked into the past as inspiration for his designs. He incorporated the Chanel fabrics and detailing such as tweed, gold accents, and chains. Lagerfeld kept what was signature for Chanel but also helped bring the brand into today.

• Today, under the guidance of designer Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel remains not only one of the oldest, but also one of the world's most prestigious fashion houses still active. A tribute to her unique vision, the designs of the woman who carried fashion into the 20th century promise to remain just as popular well into the 21st century.

Karl Lagerfeld

Collections by the house of ChanelCOCO CHANEL’S FINAL COLLECTION FOR CHANEL

More than 1,000 people viewed Coco’s last collection on 26 January 1971 the day after she had put the finishing touches She died on the 10th of January

• Chanel’s Vintage Fashion Shows

• A white carousel – spring – summer 2006

• A Lion - Fall–Winter 2010

• Dark Nostalgia – fall – winter 2011

• A Byzantine palace – pre-fall 2011

• An Indian palace

• New energy – spring – summer 2013

• Chanel's Cruise 2013/2014 Collection

• Chanel’s Fall-Winter 2013-2014 collection

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://flashionista.com/keys-to-success-from-coco-chanel/http://successstory.com/bio/coco-chanelhttp://www.entrepreneur.com/article/http://www.cocochanelquotes.org/http://change-ahead.blogspot.in/2012/06/coco-chanel-22-facts-about-her.htmlhttp://lifestyle.inquirer.net/27513/fashion-fit-for-a-maharajah#ixzz2Xp1cyGHf

Thank You….