COCO CHANELBy: Austin Shipley

Name:Gabrielle Chanel

Date of birth and death:Born on August 19, 1883Died on January 10, 1971

Where did she grow up?

•Chanel was born in the small city of Saumur, France

• She spent 7 years in an orphanage after her mother died where she learned the trade of a seamstress

•Vacations were spent with relative which of whom taught her to sew.

•When she turned 18 she left the orphanage and worked for a local tailor.

Current Residence•Chanel died of natural causes on January 10th 1971

Business Experience•She learned how to sew from the nuns in her orphanage and her family on vacations.

•Around 20, Chanel became involved with Etienne Balsan who offered to help her start a millinery business in Paris. She soon left him for one of his even wealthier friends, Arthur “Boy” Capel.

•In 1910 she opened her first shop on Paris’s Rue Cambon, Chanel started out selling hats. She later added stores in Deauville and Biarritz and began making clothes.

Business Experience (Cont)

In the 1920s, Chanel took her thriving business to new heights. She launched her first perfume, Chanel No. 5, which was the first to feature a designer’s name

In 1925, she introduced the now legendary Chanel suit with collarlessjacket and well-fitted skirt.

Another 1920s revolutionary design was Chanel’s little black dress

Three interesting facts

From the age 18 to 20 years old her part time job was a cabernet singer where she picked up her nickname “Coco”

Her life story was turned into a Broadway play. The main star playing Chanel was Katharine Hepburn.

When Chanel was first born her name was mistakenly spelt “Chasnel” making it almost impossible for biographers when Chanel later became famous

TimelineIn 1895, when she was 12 years old, Chanel's mother died of tuberculosis and her father left the family.

When Coco turned eighteen, she left orphanage, and became apart of Circus of Moulin's as a cabaret singer

Capel married in 1918, he did not completely break off with Chanel. His death in a car accident, in late 1919, was the single most devastating event in Chanel's life.

In 1939, at the beginning of World War II, Chanel closed her shops. She believed that it was not a time for fashion

In 1945 she returned to the fashion world. Her new collection did not have much success with the Parisians because of her relationship with the Nazis; However, it was applauded by the British and Americans, who became her faithful customers

Little Black Dress

N° 5 Chanel PerfumeMenswear for women

Citations

"Chanel - Shop for Chanel at Polyvore." Polyvore. Polyvore. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. <http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/shop?query=chanel>.

"Coco Chanel." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 13 Sept. 2010. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_Chanel>.

"Coco Chanel Biography." Biography.com. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. <http://www.biography.com/articles/Coco-Chanel-9244165>.

"Coco Chanel - Biography." Women's History - Comprehensive Women's History Research Guide. Web. 16 Sept. 2011. <http://womenshistory.about.com/od/chanelcoco/a/coco_chanel.htm>.