Biography of Coco Chanel (Coco Chanel) - photos, quotes, career, personal life, success story. Great Coco Chanel: the story of life and the creation of style Last years of life. Death

Coco Chanel success story is the history of the formation of a new fashion style in the 20s of the twentieth century. characteristic feature of this style was "blackening", which was so widespread among the fashionistas of the time that it was compared in terms of success with new model Henry Ford cars. All cars then left the assembly line only in black.

It is believed that the work of Gabriel (real name Coco Chanel) was influenced by business style men. This is where the love for black came from.

Gabrielle Chanel

Gabrielle Chanel was born in an orphanage in the west of France in the city of Saumur on August 19, 1883. Her mother was the daughter of a rural carpenter, and her father was a market trader.

Shelter workers named the girl Gabriel after the nurse who helped her mother during childbirth. Gabriel's mother died when the girl was 11 years old, and her father left her and two sisters in an orphanage at the monastery. It was there that the future fashion designer learned to sew.

When the girl turned 18, she left the monastery and got a job as a saleswoman in a clothing store. In her free time, she sewed hats and sang in a local cabaret. One of the songs in her repertoire was called "Ko Ko Ri Ko"(in Russian - crow). It was from here that the nickname Coco appeared, which became her middle name.

The beginning of a success story

Coco Chanel's life changed when she met a wealthy man who owned a stud farm. With him she went to the capital of France, where opened her first store in 1910.

The main assortment of the store were hats, which she sewed herself. Due to the low price and excellent quality, her hats quickly gained popularity. Koko has her regular clients. Distinctive feature her products were strict following fashion and the absence of any frills in the form of bows and feathers.

In 1914 Coco Chanel opens a second store due to the great popularity of her products. The second store was opened in the very center of Paris - opposite the Ritz Hotel.

The merits of the fashion designer

Chanel stripped 19th-century fashion from restrictive clothing and corsets. Fashionistas of that time liked it.

She simply rejuvenated all the women who used her products - they became more attractive and younger. She made women's skirts, sweaters, trousers, jackets, blouses. All this was in great demand, it was a revolution in fashion!

Models Coco Chanel became popular outside of Paris, she had clients from high society. It was then that her famous women's suit of strict cut appeared - a black fitted dress, or a black jujube and jacket.

Chanel #5

In addition to clothing, Coco's collection included fragranceChanel #5 which is still popular all over the world. At that time, the fragrance of women's perfume consisted of the smell of a single flower. Chanel changed the fashion in perfumery too, making a polyaroma, consisting of 80 components.

Famous Chanel No. 5 fragrance was created in 1921 perfumer Ernest Bo, a former royal court perfumer who fled Russia after the 1917 revolution. According to legend, Coco Chanel asked Mr. Beau to create "an artificial fragrance that smells like a Woman." The perfumer, after experimenting, presented her with a choice of ten fragrances, of which she chose the fifth one - hence the name.

When did the second World War, Coco remained in Paris, closed her shops and lived in the Ritz Hotel. It was said that she had connections with the Germans. After 1945 she was arrested, but soon released, and she went to Switzerland.

Return to the world of fashion

Coco Chanel returned to the world of fashion in 1954, when she was already 71 years old. She demonstrated in Paris a new style women's clothing - practical, business. However, she achieved her former glory and respect only after three seasons. Chanel suit has become a status symbol of a new generation: in tweed, with a tight skirt, a collarless jacket trimmed with braid, gold buttons and patch pockets.

In 1957 Coco Chanel won the Fashion Oscar as the most influential designer of the 20th century.

Gabrielle died single and childless on January 10, 1971. In 1983, the German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld became the director of her company, he added a little eroticism to Chanel's style ...

The biography of Coco Chanel (real name Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel) began on August 19, 1883 in the French city of Saumur, located in the Maine-et-Loire department, on the right bank of the Loire River. Gabrielle was the second daughter of the traveling salesman Albert Chanel and Jeanne Devolue. Since Koko's family was not rich, she was born in a nursing home. The employees of this institution were not literate, and when one of the employees, François Poitou (Fran?

ois Poitu), did not know how to write Chanel (Chanel), he, having made a mistake, writes down the girl as Chasnel.

Coco had two sisters Juliana (1882-1913) and Antoinette (born 1887) and three brothers Alphonse (born 1885), Lucien (1889) and Pieter (born and died 1891). Coco Chanel herself points out that she herself was born in Auvergne in 1893, thereby taking away 10 years of her life, but nothing confirms this “theory”.

At the age of 12, mourning events took place in the biography of Coco Chanel - her mother dies from tuberculosis, and her father leaves the family, because he now needed to earn a lot of money to support his family. Therefore, the kids from the Chanel family had to spend as many as seven years in an orphanage at a Catholic monastery in Aubasina. Here Koko mastered the art of sewing, and during the holidays spent with
her relatives, she deepens her knowledge of sewing, due to the “departure” from the monastic style of clothing. At the age of eighteen, Koko starts working at a local tailor shop. This is where it happens crucial moment in the biography of Coco Chanel, she meets the French millionaire Etienne Balsan, and soon after they met, they open a common business.

Etienne and showed Coco what it means to live rich life, giving her various diamonds, dresses, pearls. At this time, she became interested in hats, this is a hobby, by the way, and will help her later come to fame. After a break with Etienne, she moved to Paris, where in 1913 she opened her first store, where you could buy fashionable raincoats and jackets. But since this store was not located in the “heart” of Paris, it quickly went bankrupt, but thanks to strong character didn't give up. In these pre-war years, Coco Chanel meets another man who changed her life. It was Arthur Capel, with whom she falls in love very quickly. Thanks to Arthur, she opens a beanie shop in Brittany. These hats really liked the movie celebrities of France of those years, and her business quickly went up. Following this, a number of stores open throughout France, and the first aristocratic customers appear.

It is known that Coco Chanel avoided her biography, and she had to change it in every possible way. So she said that after the death of her mother, her father moved to America, where he became quite rich, and she herself had to live with her cold aunts, who annoyed her throughout her young years. In 1920, another event takes place in the life of Coco Chanel. She meets the outstanding Russian composer Igor Stravnitsky, who was forced to leave Bolshevik Russia, and Koko provided her apartments to Igor Fedorovich for the first time.

In 1923, the first fashion magazine, Harper's Bazaar, published an article about Coco Chanel. In this article, Koko says that she is used to making clothes that are comfortable for women, that most fashion designers are men, and they make very uncomfortable clothes. Criticizing them, she suggested that male fashion designers wear the clothes they made themselves and see how hard it is. Thus, Coco Chanel opened a new trend in modeling, aimed at simplifying clothes.
It is impossible not to note the event that occurred in the biography of Coco Chanel in 1921. At this time, she, together with the Russian emigrant Ernst Beau, made a revolution in perfumery. Their perfume Chanel No. 5 became the first polyaromatic perfume, since before all perfumes were monoaromatic, and were made from only one smell - a flower.

In 1925 there is another significant event in the life of Coco Chanel: with the help of Vera Lombardi, she opens the House of Chanel.
After the start of the Second World War, Coco closes all his stores, calling this time "not the time of fashion." And she settles in the Ritz Hotel, and lives there for about 30 years. The Ritz was her home even when Paris was occupied by the Nazis. During these troubled times, Coco herself was forced to spend time in prison, as she was in close contact with Vera Lombardi, who was convicted of aiding the British secret services.

Irreconcilable, brave, stubborn - such was Coco Chanel, the woman who created a small black dress and conquered the whole world in it. We invite you to immerse yourself in the life story of the great designer.

Coco Chanel was an innovator by vocation - she was the first to cut her hair in a boyish square, put on trousers and a tweed jacket, complementing it with a string of pearls. Started with her new era in the fashion world, marked by the concept of "simple luxury".

It was Coco Chanel, who remained a mademoiselle all her life, who proved that a woman is worth a lot on her own, without an influential man behind her back. She had always dreamed of breaking free - and once she had, she couldn't afford to lose her.

Childhood

Gabrielle Chanel was born in poor family merchant and carpenter's daughter in 1883, in the city of Saumur. There was not enough money in the family, and soon after the death of her mother, her father gave 12-year-old Gabrielle along with her sisters to an orphanage at the monastery.

In the future, Chanel will try her best to forget about her poor childhood and even invent herself new history: long years she will tell everyone that she was born in 1893 in Auvergne, which will completely confuse biographers.

Still, her childhood had a strong influence on her work: simple, comfortable outfits in dark colors are reminiscent of the orphan dresses that she wore for a long period of her life.

Six years of life in a monastery and the lack of a minimum set of necessary clothes led to the fact that Chanel's only dream was the desire to escape poverty in any way, to succeed and be able to live in luxury.

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Carier start

After leaving the convent, 18-year-old Gabrielle Chanel gets a job as a salesperson in a clothing store. In pursuit of a better life, she earns money in a cabaret, more often than others performing two songs from her repertoire - "Ko Ko Ri Ko" and "You Haven't Seen Koko", for which she gets her nickname.

Proud Coco, hoping to achieve more, agrees to become Balzan's mistress and moves into his mansion. Later, she will try to erase from her memory that she was once paid for - and will pay other people's bills herself.

At first, Balzan perceives Chanel as another of his joys, but soon falls in love with a rebellious girl and even offers her marriage. Gabrielle refuses him: at that moment she had already met Balzan's friend, the Englishman Arthur Capel, who bore the nickname Boy.

A few years later, Chanel leaves Balzan and starts an affair with Boy, but prefers to live alone in a small Parisian apartment and tries to lead an independent life. One way or another, then she still could not do without outside help, and Boy paid her bills.

A new relationship consumes her: Chanel falls head over heels in love with Capel, and their relationship leads to a breakthrough for the fashion designer. From another trip to the coast, she brings a fishing vest, and also tries on sweaters, shirts and trousers of her lover.

In the new image, Chanel went for a walk around the city: everyone looked at the eccentric girl in men's trousers with undisguised surprise. But soon her name began to gain popularity in the fashion world: in 1910, Coco opened her first store in Paris, and three years later - in the French town of Deauville.

Entrepreneur woman

The heyday of her career came during the First World War. The store in Deauville was empty, and Coco Chanel worked as a nurse in a hospital for the wounded.

In the difficult war years, Chanel is inspired: she understands that now women need practical clothes made from inexpensive, wrinkle-resistant fabrics. And he starts to create.

Paying attention to the work clothes of saleswomen, she creates a comfortable dress with pockets. Black socks on light shoes, so popular until now, were also invented for reasons of expediency, because black is less dirty.

The war ended, and it seemed that everything went smoothly: new models began to be sold with a vengeance, beloved Boy returned from the front alive and unharmed. However, the happiness did not last long: already in 1918, Boy Capel dies after crashing into a tree in his Ford car.

For Chanel, a period of black has come. It was her way of expressing grief for her dead lover: she was not supposed to wear mourning, because they were not married, so she simply dyed all her everyday clothes black. And then, unwillingly, she dressed the whole world in black.

For several years in a row, all of her collections consisted entirely of black. Hue, previously considered suitable only for mourning, has become the most trendy color decades. Thus began perhaps the most successful period in the life of Coco Chanel.

Mistress but not wife

As Chanel herself later admitted, Boy Capel was the only real love in her life. After Boy's death, Chanel plunges into a string of both short and long romance novels, none of which led to anything more.

In 1918, she meets the Russian prince Dmitry Romanov, with whom she has a brief affair. This period in the work of Chanel is closely connected with Russian motifs in clothing.

After Romanov, Chanel closely communicated with the composer Igor Stravinsky, and then with the poet Pierre Reverdy. But no one awakens in her a long-extinct feeling

Her relationship with the Duke of Westminster almost reached marriage. She set him a firm condition that she no longer intended to remain a mistress - only a wife. The Grand Duke issued a reverse ultimatum: if 46-year-old Chanel can give him an heir, he will marry her.

Long attempts at treatment did not give any results, and after 8 years of mutual reproaches, the couple broke up. All further novels Coco Chanel never got so deep again. In the first place, once and for all, was work, pushing personal life into the background.

Years without work

With the outbreak of World War II, Chanel closes all of its stores, believing that these Hard times there is no place for fashion. Another test happens in her life: the only nephew of the fashion designer, Andre Palace, is captured by the Germans.

In ethereal attempts to free him, Chanel tries all methods and finally finds a solution: turning to her friend, Baron von Dinklage, an employee of the German consulate, she returns her nephew, and herself enters into a love affair with the German baron for the duration of the war.

This connection will cost her dearly: after the end of the war, she will be accused of complicity with fascism. According to the documents of the cases brought against her, she was in the service of German intelligence and regularly transmitted information about the French government to opponents.

In 1944, she was arrested on suspicion of espionage, but released almost immediately on the condition that she leave the country. So the 61-year-old Chanel leaves her beloved France and moves to Switzerland.

A new beginning. Return to the world of fashion

A decade later, when the hype surrounding the scandal has been forgotten, Coco Chanel returns to Paris and finds the fashion capital of the world completely changed. Exaggerated femininity from Dior rules on the catwalks: the very bouffant skirts, crinolines and an underlined waist that Koko hated so much.

With disdain for the new fashion, she prepares her first post-war collection in the old tradition. And it suffers a complete collapse: women, who during the war years were hungry for ostentatious wealth and luxury, refused to wear simple and ascetic outfits from Chanel.

At that time, Mademoiselle Chanel was already 71 years old. The fashion world considered her a broken piece, a discarded product, but not a competitor. However, after only three fashion seasons, her design ideas are once again gaining recognition.

Chanel makes another breakthrough by suggesting that women replace an uncomfortable reticule with a functional yet elegant chain handbag. Soon, a jewelry line appeared in her collections, bringing a huge income to the House of Chanel.

Her all-time classic tweed suit was worn by Jacqueline Kennedy on the day of John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963. The pink jacket with the president's blood splattered forever remained imprinted in the journalistic chronicle and, thanks to this, gained even greater popularity.

Final years and death

Mademoiselle Chanel has always been famous for her difficult, grumpy character, and by the end of her life she became simply unbearable. She was acutely sensitive to criticism and was very jealous of her competitors.

Eminent fashion designers turned a blind eye to Chanel's caustic remarks about their new collections. But the matter was not limited to words: they say that one day, when she saw Givenchy's outfit on a model, an enraged Chanel unceremoniously ripped it right on the poor girl.

She was also skeptical about someone else's personal life: when one of the models became pregnant, Coco Chanel kicked her out, recommending "to calve elsewhere." In the depths of her soul, Chanel recalled her failures, because after many attempts she was never able to have children.

In recent years, Chanel has moved to the Ritz Hotel, where she has been wooing employees and guests of the hotel. In the middle of the night, she could leave the room and go to the laundry, or even wander through the corridors of the hotel with eyes closed. The staff was scared to death of her.

This one died amazing. Strong woman in 1971 at the age of 88. She left only three outfits in the wardrobe, and in the fashion world she left a magnificent legacy in the form of perfume, a 2.55 handbag and a little black dress. The day of her death marked the end of a great era.

They are still at the peak of popularity among it-girls. Today we decided to tell you about the life of the great Gabrielle Chanel, the reformer of women's wardrobe, and show you some archive photos.

Childhood and youth of Coco Chanel

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The inhospitable walls of the orphanage did not break Chanel and did not turn her into a sentimental dreamer. " If you were born without wings, don't stop them from growing.", - Gabrielle once said already in the status of Mademoiselle Coco. At 18, she left the convent. determined to get out of poverty once and for all. The needlework skills learned at the orphanage helped Chanel take the first step on the road to success: she became a seamstress in a ready-made dress shop in the town of Moulins. The work brought her a small income, private orders appeared, but Chanel wanted chic and brilliance. She began to perform in a local cafe, performing unpretentious songs in front of the public: Qui qu`a vu Coco and Ko Ko Ri Ko. Since then, the name Gabriel has been forgotten: everyone began to call Chanel simply Coco. Let's be honest: Coco Chanel was an unimportant artist and performer, it was stupid to even dream of a career as a singer or actress! But the charming brunette was noticed by the right men, and this is exactly what she was striving for.

Man - a short path to success

Chanel decided to “promote” her business on her own. Chanel's small round hats during her walks and outings attracted attention with grace and a complete lack of jewelry. So the first success came - and a new feeling: Coco became close to Etienne's friend, the English playboy Arthur Capel, who was destined to become the biggest and, perhaps, the only love in the life of the great mademoiselle. Arthur introduced Koko into his circle, introduced her to bankers, politicians, financiers. Capel's advice, connections and money helped Chanel open the first boutique in Paris, on Chambon Street, and a little later, the first branch of her store in Deauville, which in 1919 grew into a full-fledged fashion house, and the price tags on dresses reached 3 thousand francs. Koko got what she dreamed of - fame and luxurious life. The payoff for success was tragic victim personal life. Both Etienne and Arthur loved Chanel, but married aristocratic women. The marriage of Arthur Capel was not successful, and he returned to Chanel again and again, but ... On December 22, 1919, Arthur crashed in a car. Chanel was left alone again and, in order to drown out the pain of loss, she plunged headlong into work.

immortal style

Chanel was accused of "robbing" the stronger sex and reshaping the masculine English classic style for women. Instead of ruffles, frills, bows, corsets and dresses with bustles, Coco offered shirts and ties, trousers, jackets, jackets, knitted pullovers, leather jockey jackets. In addition, Chanel dared to "bring out" costume jewelry, short haircuts and a tan. Chanel's style culminated in the little black dress created in 1926. It was an outfit from Chanel's childhood: the pupils of the orphanage where she grew up wore black dresses with a small white collar. Impeccable proportions, ascetic simplicity of cut, sophistication of fabric, restrained colors - Coco turned the color of mourning and poverty into a symbol of elegance and taste.

“Fashion goes out of fashion,” Coco said, “style never”

Grand Mademoiselle and mistress

Dmitry Romanov later married a wealthy American, but this connection brought Chanel a famous brainchild, which turned into millions in income. Dmitry arranged for Coco, a meeting with a perfumer, a Frenchman of Russian origin, Ernest Bo. Bo, as Chanel intended, created a mixed floral fragrance that no one else had done before. From several options for future perfumes, the customer chose fragrance number five. It is symbolic that Koko considered this figure lucky for herself and showed the new collections to the public only on the fifth day. Thus was born the legendary perfume Chanel No. 5.

Chanel was forty-two when a new aristocratic admirer entered her life. The Duke of Westminster was extravagant and fabulously wealthy. He was crazy about Chanel, but Coco refused the marriage proposal: "There are many duchesses, but only one Coco Chanel!" She did not want to sacrifice the Fashion House for the sake of the title and marriage and remained a great mademoiselle.

But Coco's most mysterious romance is her relationship with Walter Schellenberg, the head of intelligence, S.S. Chanel, volunteered to mediate peace negotiations between the Germans and the Allies, but Operation Fashion Hat failed. After the liberation of France, Koko was expelled from the country for cooperation with the invaders, and the lovers left for Switzerland. Chanel took care of Schellenberg until his death in 1952.

Discipline as an elixir of youth

After hard work, Koko allowed herself periods of complete idleness in a country house, enjoying fresh air, freedom and loneliness. Chanel enjoyed fishing, planting flowers, taking care of the surrounding dogs, and riding horses. By the way, Mademoiselle was a “lark” and strictly followed the daily routine, taking at least seven to eight hours to sleep: "After sleepless night you will not create anything worthwhile during the day. Going to bed after midnight means not sparing yourself. Personally, after twelve hours nothing interests me at all. Spare yourself for your own sake. Spare your ears, spare your eyes, spare your thoughts. What did you hear after midnight that you thought was more valuable own sleep? This is just what you have heard anyway, and besides, a hundred times ... ". Coco considered alcohol and excesses in food to be the enemies of beauty. Until her old age, she maintained a girlish harmony, preferring a diet of vegetables, fruits, and fish. Chanel's only unhealthy weakness was constant smoking.