Coco Chanel Gabrielle Bonheur Chasnel<

Coco Chanel is at the origin of the eponymous house. A symbol of French elegance, it is famous for its haute couture creations and its perfumes.

Born in Saumur to a street vendor father and a seamstress mother, Gabrielle Bonheur Chasnel has 5 brothers and sisters. Her mother died when she was 12 years old. Several versions of her childhood clash, but the one that prevails is that she would then have grown up in an orphanage with her sisters.

She learned sewing from her aunt. Attracted by the stage, she also sang in the cafes in Vichy where she earned her nickname, Coco. There she met her future protector, Étienne Balsa, who introduced her to Arthur “Boy” Capel, her great love, who died in 1919. The latter convinced her to settle down as a milliner in Paris. In 1910, Coco opened Chanel Modes at 21, rue Cambon, then boutiques in Deauville and Biarritz. It was in the Basque Country that she set up her fashion house and designed her first creations. She uses jersey to make up for the shortage of fabric in times of war, designs straight dresses and dares to wear trousers for women. The success is immediate. At the end of the war, it employed 300 workers.

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In 1921, Coco Chanel acquired 2 new buildings on rue Cambon. In the same year, she launched the famous Chanel No. 5. It was in 1926 that she designed her legendary little black dress, a symbol of elegance and simplicity. In 1936, she presented a line of fine jewelry.

With the announcement of the 2nd World War, Coco Chanel closed the doors of her fashion house to devote herself solely to perfumes. Upon liberation, she left for Switzerland and did not return to Paris until 1954, settling permanently in her apartments at the Hôtel Ritz. She created new models that would become classics, such as the tweed suit, the quilted Chanel bag and the two-tone ballet flats.

“Mademoiselle” died in January 1971, at the age of 87, while she was preparing a new collection, which was presented posthumously.