From Orphanage to Fame

She was raised in an orphanage after her mother died, and her father abandoned her, born into poverty in the French countryside, Coco Chanel, byname of Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, (born August 19, 1883, Saumur, France
The French designer who ruled Parisian haute couture for almost six decades. Her elegantly casual designs inspired women of fashion to abandon the complicated, uncomfortable clothes such as corsets and petticoats . along now with the classic Chanel suit, the quilted purse, costume jewelry, and the “little black dress.”

Coco Chanel worked for a few years as a café singer, later became associated with a few wealthy men and in 1913 with financial assistance of Arthur Capel she started her fashion career by designing hats in Paris, France, As it became more popular, she started selling clothes as well like simple sportswear. for her first few years she uses the jersey fabric to create “poor girl” look which attracted the attention of influential wealthy women seeking relief from the prevalent corseted styles In the 1920s she introduced the Little Black Dress to fashion. Intended to be affordable and easy-to-wear, Vogue rightly predicted that it would be worn around the world, and that was true!
Her influence wasn’t just on clothes. But also on appearance, she appeared at the opera house with short hair, inspiring many women to adopt the new “garçon” (boyish) style.

she always says, “luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury,” Chanel’s designs were the simplicity and comfort.
By the late 1920s the Chanel industries were reportedly worth millions and employed more than 2,000 people, not only in her couture house but also in a perfume laboratory, a textile mill, and a jewelry workshop.
The financial basis of this empire was Chanel No. 5, the phenomenally successful perfume she introduced in 1921 with the help of Ernst Beaux, one of the most talented perfume creators in France. It has been said that the perfume got its name from the series of scents that Beaux created for Chanel to sample—she chose the fifth.

Chanel closed her couture house in 1939 with the outbreak of World War II. Her associations with a German diplomat during the Nazi occupation tainted her reputation, and she did not return to fashion until 1954. That year she introduced her highly copied suit design, a collarless, braid-trimmed cardigan jacket with a graceful skirt. She also introduced bell-bottomed pants and other innovations while always retaining a clean classic look.
On 10 January 1971 in Paris, after returning from a walk with her friend Claude Baillen, Coco Chanel died on her bed in the Hotel Ritz. Her last words to her maid Celine were, “You see, this is how you die.”

“Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.”