The Life and Times of Coco Chanel There have been many women of great influence throughout the years, but in the world of fashion there was one above all the rest: Coco Chanel. After years of triumphs and failures, she gracefully stated, óNature gives you the face you have at twenty. Life shapes the face you have at thirty. But at fifty you get the face you deserve.ò Gabrielle óCocoò Chanel was a great woman of her time, from her humble beginnings to becoming the most influential designer of her time, she incorporated good looks and comfort for women of the 1920's and formed a strong capital investment for herself even after her death.
Born into a destitute Auvergnate family August 19, 1883, Gabrielle Chanel was destined to be a notable face in the French and global fashion scene. She was given the very fitting middle name of Bonheur, meaning happiness, by a nun in the convent hospital where she was delivered.
Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel
Mlle Gabrielle Dorziat wearing one of Chanel's fir...
en: Chanel No.5 parfumeThe young Gabrielle enjoyed being in the company of friends and was always filled with stories, although they were often falsities (Current Biography 1). But there was one story that proved her intent to participate in fashion, and that was the habitual action of cutting up the curtains in the living room to make dresses for her dolls (1). What a magnificent way to prepare for a life of style.
In February, 1895, Chanelùs mother, Jeanne, was found dead, presumably because of her constant pregnancies (Chanel, A Woman of Her Own 9); her father, Albert, left for good, abandoning Gabrielle and her four siblings. They were placed into an orphanage in Aubazine. The three Chanel girls, Julie, Antoinette, and Gabrielle, remained at the orphanage for the next six years while the two boys, Alphonse and Lucien, became unpaid...