History of Chanel

Chanel along with Dior, Ricci, and Givenchy make some of the top French fashion houses - haute couture. And like the rest it was started by and given its impetus by the founder.

Gabrielle Chanel was born on August 19, 1883 in Saumur in a poor family and when her mother died when she was six, leaving her father left her and her four siblings in the hands of relatives.

Gabrielle took the name Coco during a short career as a cafe and concert singer 1905-1908. First a mistress of a wealthy military officer then of an English industrialist, Coco Chanel drew on the resources of these patrons in setting up a millinery shop in Paris in 1912, expanding to Deauville and Biarritz. The two men also helped her find customers among women of society, and her simple hats became popular.

By the 1920s, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel rose to become one of the top fashion designers in Paris, France. She replaced the corset with comfort and casual elegance, her fashion themes included simple suits and dresses, women’s trousers, costume jewelry, perfume and textiles. She said, “A fashion that does not reach the streets is not a fashion.”

Soon Coco Chanel was expanding to couture, working in jersey, a first in the French fashion world. By the 1920s, her fashion house had expanded considerably, and her chemise set a fashion trend with its “little boy” look. Coco herself dressed in mannish clothes, and adapted these more comfortable fashions which other women also found liberating.

In 1922 Coco Chanel introduced a perfume, Chanel No. 5, which became and remained popular, and remains a profitable product of Chanel’s company. Two years later, she is supposed to have said, “I want to give women an artificial perfume.”

In the same year Pierre Wertheimer became Chanel’s partner in the perfume business , and perhaps also her lover. Wertheimer owned 70% of the company; Coco Chanel received 10% and her friend Bader 20%. The Wertheimers continue to control the Chanel perfume company today.

Coco Chanel introduced her signature cardigan jacket in 1925 and signature “little black dress” in 1926. Most of her fashions had a staying power, and didn’t change much from year to year — or even generation to generation. She said about other designs, “Fashion is made to become unfashionable.”

She has been credited with being the person who invented modern clothes, stamped her adamant, distinctive personality on everything she touched. Coco said, “A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.

Coco Chanel maintained that couturiers were not artists, they were furnishers. Later on she introduced pea jackets and bell bottom pants for women. She was still working in 1971 when she died. Karl Lagerfeld has been chief designer of Chanel’s fashion house since 1983.

Today Chanel makes some of the best handbags and sunglasses and some of these handbags and sunglasses are known for the signature Chanel CC logo.