COCO CHANEL(19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971)

International Black Sea University

Introduction

• Gabrielle "Coco" Bonheur Chanel (19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971)  was a French fashion designer and founder of the Chanel brand.

• She was the only fashion designer to appear on Time magazine's list of the most influential people of the 20th century.

• A prolific fashion creator, Chanel's influence extended beyond couture clothing. Her design aesthetic was realized in jewelry, handbags, and fragrance. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5, has become an iconic product.

Early life

The Chanel family did not have money.

When Gabrielle was twelve, her mother died of tuberculosis, and her father disappeared.

Family relatives brought her at the monastery, and when she became 18, she left the orphanage.

• She found a job as a shopkeeper specializing in the lines and wares. Later she became a singer and dancer in a music hall, where she got the name Coco.

Career/Life Path

• While working at a tailoring shop she met and soon began an affair with Etienne Balsan.

• Coco left Etienne and took over his apartment in Paris.

• In 1908 she began selling hats from the basement shop in Etienne’s apartment.

• She was forced to close her shop.

• 1910 she opened second shop funded by boy Capel in Cambon, Paris.

• In 1916 Coco Chanel became the first designer to create loose women’s clothing using jersey.

Death

• Coco Chanel died of a heart attack in her private suite at the Hotel Ritz Paris on 10 January 1971, at the age of 87. She was buried in Switzerland and her tombstone is carved with lion heads representing her birth sign, Leo.

Chanel Logo

The Chanel logo, designed by Coco Chanel herself in 1925, consists of two interlocked and opposing letters “C” for her name, “Coco Chanel”.

Chanel Stores

Fashions that Chanel Introduced to the world

• LITTLE BLACK DRESS

• All the famous innovations in fashion and design cannot outshine the fame of the single Chanel Little Black Dress. Coco Chanel introduced it in a time between the wars, when the bright colors, prints and heavy embroideries dominated the fashion. 

• The Chanel little black dress became a symbol of chic and sophisticated simplicity. 

Audrey Hepburn

LITTLE BLACK DRESS

CHANEL No.5

• It was in 1921, that Coco Chanel had created the single most famous perfume in history, Chanel No.5. 

• Chanel N.5 is the first designer perfume

• The designer, who was rarely seen without a heaping pile of pearls around her neck, designed costume jewelry made from chains, beads, and glass that was meant to be worn with her casual daytime sportswear as early as the 1930s.

COSTUME JEWELRY

CHANEL PRODUCTS FOR MEN

For Men Skin

Trousers

• Chanel, who decided that women should enjoy the same freedoms as men, and that binding corsets and skirts were physically holding them back. "I gave women a sense of freedom," she once said.

• "I gave them back their bodies: bodies that were drenched in sweat, due to fashion's finery, lace, corsets, underclothes, padding.“

TWO TONE FOOTWEAR

CHANEL’S RED LIPSTIC

The “Roots” of Chanel Business

• Coco Chanel sought financial help from Pierre Wertheimer to market a fragrance she had developed in 1921

• Pierre Wertheimer funded the venture and retained a 70 percent ownership share in the Perfume company. Coco Chanel only got a 10 percent cut.

Karl Lagerfeld

• In 1983 Karl Lagerfeld took over as chief designer for Chanel. Like Chanel, he looked into the past as inspiration for his designs. He incorporated the Chanel fabrics and detailing such as tweed, gold accents, and chains. Lagerfeld kept what was signature for Chanel but also helped bring the brand into today.

• Today, under the guidance of designer Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel remains not only one of the oldest, but also one of the world's most prestigious fashion houses still active.

• A tribute to her unique vision, the designs of the woman who carried fashion into the 20th century promise to remain just as popular well into the 21st century.

Chanel Today

Veriko Ichkiti15.10.2014

“A Girl Should Be Two Things: Classy And Fabulous.” Coco Chanel

Thanks For Attention