Coco Chanel

Who was Coco Chanel?

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel 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.

Chanel was known for her lifelong determination, ambition, and energy which she applied to her professional and social life. She achieved both success as a businesswoman and social prominence thanks to the connections she made through her work. These included many artists and craftspeople to whom she became a patron. However, Chanel's highly competitive, opportunistic personality led her to make questionable life choices which have generated controversy around her reputation, particularly her behaviour during the German occupation of France in World War II.

Famous Quotes:

• There is a time for work and a time for love. That leaves no other time.
• Elegance does not consist in putting on a new dress.
• How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something, but to be someone.
• Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions.
• My friends, there are no friends.
• A style does not go out of style as long as it adapts itself to its period. When there is an incompatibility between the style and a certain state of mind, it is never the style that triumphs.
• Fashion is made to become unfashionable.
• Nothing goes out of fashion sooner than a long dress with a very low neck.
• Innovation! One cannot be forever innovating. I want to create classics.
• In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.