Coco ©Chanel

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was born in Saumur France, Agust 19, 1883. Best Known As: Designer who popularized the "little black dress. Designer Coco Chanel was born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel in 1883, although she would often claim that her real date of birth was 1893, making her ten years younger. Her place of birth was also something that she sought to disguise. Coco was born in the workhouse where her mother worked, although she asserted that she was born in Auvergne.Designer Coco Chanel gave the world the little black dress, Chanel No. 5 perfume, and a casually classic notion of style that influenced women's clothes throughout the 20th century. 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 corseted styles 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 kept her in a form of self-imposed exile in Switzerland for more than a decade. She made a comeback in 1954 and her designs became some of the most popular in the western world, especially in the United States.Her mother died when she was six years old, leaving her father with five children, whom he quickly farmed out to various relatives.Gabrielle adopted the name Coco during a brief career as a singer in cafes and concert halls, between 1905-08.Coco became the mistress of a rich military officer, and then a wealthy English Industrialist, and the patronage and connections that these men provided her with enabled her to open her own millinery shop in Paris in 1910. She had soon expanded to Deauville and Biarritz.Coco Chanel became the first designer to use jersey during the 1920s, and her relaxed, mannish clothes for women soon became very popular with clients, who were tired of the corseted fashions of previous decades.In 1922, she launched the fragrance Chanel No. 5, which remains popular to this day. Two years later Pierre Wertheiner became her partner (taking on 70% of the fragrance business), and reputedly her lover.Coco launched her signature cardigan jacket in 1925, and the following year matched its success with her little black dress. Both items continue to be a staple part of every Chanel collection.During World War II, Coco was a nurse, although her post-war popularity was greatly diminished by her affair with a Nazi officer during the conflict.However, she made her comeback in 1954, her style much unchanged, apart from the introduction of pea jackets and bell-bottoms for women.During her life, Coco Chanel also designed costumes for the stage, including Cocteau’s 'Antigone' (1923) and 'Oedipus Rex' (1937). She also designed film costumes for cinematic works such as 'La Regle de Jeu'.A Broadway musical of her life opened in 1969, with Katharine Hepburn taking the role of Coco.Coco Chanel worked until her death in 1971.

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