The years of Coco Chanel's life. The famous Coco Chanel is a loving woman, a purposeful businessman and a creative person.

Coco Chanel (1883-1971) - French fashion designer, founder of the famous Chanel fashion house. This woman greatly influenced the fashion of the twentieth century in Europe; she simplified women's suits by borrowing elements from men's wardrobes; introduced the fashion for the little black dress, fitted jackets, handbags on a chain, large imitation pearl jewelry and camellia brooches. Her perfume "Chanel No. 5" is the bestseller of the twentieth century in the world of perfumery.

Childhood

The real name that was given to the girl at birth is Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel. She was born on August 19, 1883 in the small French town of Saumur, in an orphanage for the poor. Her parents Eugenie Jeanne Devol and Albert Chanel were not officially married. Albert traded in an ordinary market stall, Eugenia Jeanne was from a poor family, her father worked as a rural carpenter. Gabrielle was the second daughter of Devol and Chanel, she was registered by shelter workers in the local municipality. This name was given to her in honor of the nurse who took the girl during childbirth.

Later, three more children were born in the family, the last birth was difficult, and during them Koko's mother died. The girl at that time was eleven years old. Soon the father left the children, at first they were in the care of relatives, then they ended up in an orphanage.

Everything there was equally gray, featureless and depressing. But most likely it was this that served as the significant impetus that the growing girl Gabrielle wanted to become completely different - bright, free and individual.

The orphan from the orphanage was well aware of what her future could be, but nevertheless she always dreamed of a brilliant life. When Koko becomes an adult and famous, she will never remember her childhood years spent in an orphanage. Moreover, she will make every effort to forever erase these terrible memories of a poor childhood from her memory.

Youth and Etienne Balzan

When Gabrielle Chanel was 18 years old, on the recommendation of an orphanage, she began working as a sales assistant in a small clothing store. In her free time from the store, in order to save at least some money, the girl worked part-time in a cabaret. She danced and sang her favorite songs "Ko Ko Ri Ko" and "Qui qu'a vu Coco". For these songs, the performer was nicknamed Coco.

Once in a cabaret, a retired cavalry officer Etienne Balzan drew attention to a young lady. He was a rather rich man, the heir to a huge fortune, he was fond of breeding thoroughbred horses and beautiful women, he was a horse rider. He really liked the girl, Etienne invited her to move to him in the estate of Roalier, Coco agreed.

She began to live in the castle, at first she liked it, but she was not very pleased with the role of a mistress. She was especially offended by the fact that when Etienne received high-ranking guests, she did not eat with them at the table, but with servants.

Once she told him that she would like to become a milliner. Etienne considered the idea crazy, there were a lot of milliners in Paris, and Coco, on top of everything else, had absolutely no experience in such a business. He just took pity on the money, because he needed considerable sums for own business for breeding horses.

Arthur Capel and the start of the business

Then Coco got herself a new lover, he was an industrialist from England Arthur Capel, among his close friends he had the nickname "Fight". The young man was Etienne Balzan's closest friend, but despite this, Chanel moved to live with Capel in 1909.

They were very close in their interests: both Arthur and Koko had a sports character and entrepreneurial abilities. He already had his own small business and he was sympathetic to the idea of ​​Chanel. In 1910, Arthur helped her open a hat shop in Paris on the Boulevard Malherbe, and in doing so, changed Coco Chanel's life dramatically. Less than a year later, this shop moved to 31 Rue Cambon, opposite the Ritz Hotel, where the Chanel Fashion House is currently located. Three years later, another of her boutiques appeared in the city of Deauville.

Arthur became for Koko the biggest and most romantic love in life. He was for her both a father and a brother, instructed and pampered at the same time. Numerous mistresses told him many times to leave Chanel. And Capel replied that it was as impossible as if he cut off his own leg.

Arthur was forced to marry another woman from a noble and wealthy family. But their relationship with Koko persisted until Capel's death.

He died in December 1919. Arthur was driving from Paris to Cannes, a tire burst on his car, he died in a car accident. Koko saw a pile of twisted metal, most recently it was the car of her loved one. She lightly ran her hand over the glass, which remained unbroken. Everywhere was his blood, she burst into tears, sitting on the side of the road.

Coco came to their house and painted all the walls black. From now on, the black color was present in all her clothes, she put on mourning for a long time. By that time, Chanel had already become a popular personality, and thousands of her fans instantly did the same. So Coco became a trendsetter in fashion in black and a little black dress.

In the society of that time, they did not accept mourning for a man with whom he was not officially married. But she didn't give a damn about anyone - about those around her, about society, about their moral principles. And the black fashion announced by her has already flown around the world. And in 1926, one American magazine put the little black dress from Chanel on the same position in terms of popularity and uniqueness as the Ford car.

Revolution in the fashion world

Her first hat shop in Paris quickly turned into a fashion salon. The milliner was unusual, in the capital of France she made a splash, the very first women of fashion lined up for new hats.

Koko discovered in herself unique ability- invent models. A real artist woke up in her, Chanel created her own, unlike any other style. She had an incredible work ethic. Sometimes new ideas came to her in a dream, and then she got up and began to work.

Hats were just the beginning, later Coco completely turned the fashion world upside down:

• the first said "no" to suffocating women's corsets;
• introduced a universally recognized symbol of the status of the new generation - a tweed suit "from Chanel";
• freed female hands from carrying bags, now handbags on long chains could be worn on the shoulder;
• she replaced long fluffy skirts, frills and ruffles with strict, clear, simple lines in clothes;
• introduced the fashion for women's short haircuts;
• gave women the opportunity to wear blazers, vests, blouses with short sleeves, trousers and shoes with low heels.

She made the little black dress the most comfortable and versatile, sexy and at the same time elegant women's outfit; it could be worn both at lunchtime and in the evening, depending on the combination with various accessories.

Coco Chanel is a phenomenon that fashion history did not know before. She managed to make a dizzying leap upstairs and establish her concepts of beauty in the fashion world. Everything she did became fashionable. Once, during a sea cruise, Coco got tanned and appeared in Cannes in this form. Society immediately took it as a new fashion for tanning.

Prince Dmitry Romanov and Chanel No. 5

In the small town of Biarritz in southern France, where Coco had a fashion salon, in 1920, she met the Russian emigrant Dmitry Romanov, cousin of Tsar Nicholas II. An affair began between them, Coco, being quite famous and rich by that time, rented a villa on the Atlantic coast for their meetings. Dmitry tried on her the sapphire and ruby ​​jewelry of the Moscow tsars, which he managed to take out of Russia during emigration, and she bathed in his attention.

Their romance was short-lived, in 1921 Dmitry married the daughter of an American billionaire. But thanks to this passion, Russian motifs began to appear in the collections of Coco Chanel - for example, coats with sable lining or hand-embroidered shirts.

But the most important thing that this acquaintance brought was the famous Chanel No. 5 perfume. Dmitry introduced Chanel to Ernest Bo. He was the second son of a French perfumer who once worked for a large Russian cosmetics company that supplied perfumes to the Imperial Court. Young Bo also continued his father's work in the world of scents and aromas.

After meeting a perfumer, Koko came up with the idea to create perfumes under her own name. Ernest worked for several months and created many designs. When choosing Coco, she randomly took the bottle at number 5 and she really liked the fragrance. So the perfume "Chanel No. 5" appeared.

The Second World War

The success of Chanel clothes was enormous. But the war began, and Coco closed all her shops and the Fashion House. Many famous designers left France, but Chanel stayed in Paris.

During this period, there is the most scandalous love affair in her life with the German agent Spatz (Hans Günther von Dinklage). He was right hand Hitler, and Coco as an agent with the nickname "Fashion Hat". She actively participated in the negotiations between the Germans and the Allies.

Having learned about this, but given the merits of Chanel to France in the field of fashion, the government dealt with her gently. She was offered to voluntarily go to jail or leave the country. She went to Switzerland, and nothing was heard of her until 1954.

Unsurpassed Coco

She returned to the fashion world with a new collection in 1954, she was 71 years old. Three seasons later, her former glory came back to her.

She dressed Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn.

To work and create new models, she did not need paper and pencil, only pins, a mannequin and her wild imagination.

Coco Chanel can be attributed to centenarians. Bohemian night life was alien to her. At night, she preferred to sleep, and at least 7-8 hours. Koko claimed that after sleepless nights, nothing worthwhile could be created during the day. She always slept with the windows open, got up no later than 7 o'clock in the morning and almost immediately began to work. Koko said that in life there should be only time for work and love, it should not be spent on anything else.

She did not allow herself gluttony and alcohol, so as not to destroy her body. Her diet has always been simple - vegetables, fish, fruits.

And with all this, Coco Chanel smoked about 50 cigarettes a day.

Death

Coco Chanel passed away quietly and calmly on January 10, 1971. This happened in the suite of the Parisian hotel Ritz, where she lived. last years. The great woman was absolutely alone - no husband, no friends, no children. Koko spent her last days in the company of her housekeeper. And opposite shone the world-famous, luxuriously finished Chanel Fashion House.

Orphanage girl Gabrielle and great fashion queen Coco Chanel ended her journey on this earth, died of a heart attack. She was buried in Switzerland at the Lausanne Bois-de-Vaux cemetery, in the upper part of the tombstone there is a bas-relief depicting five lion heads.

And yet she created an image of a woman that no one knew before her.
After Coco's death, her fashion house had to go through hard times. Its revival began in 1983 with the advent of the new fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.

They are still at the peak of popularity among it-girls. Today we decided to tell you about the life of the great Gabrielle Chanel, the reformer of women's wardrobe, and show you some archive photos.

Childhood and youth of Coco Chanel

On August 19, 1883, in the godforsaken town of Saumur in western France, the girl Gabrielle was born to the day laborer Jeanne Devol and the traveling salesman Albert Chanel. The family lived extremely poorly and, having no home of its own, often moved. After the death of his wife, Albert gave his sons to relatives, and his daughters to a monastery shelter. Gabrielle was 12 at the time. Neither she nor the other children ever saw their father again. Little Chanel could not believe that he had abandoned them. "I'm not an orphan! Dad will come and pick me up soon!”, - this is how the girl answered the ridicule of other pupils of the orphanage.

The inhospitable walls of the orphanage did not break Chanel and did not turn her into a sentimental dreamer. " If you were born without wings, don't stop them from growing.", - Gabrielle once said already in the status of Mademoiselle Coco. At 18, she left the convent. determined to get out of poverty once and for all. The needlework skills learned at the orphanage helped Chanel take the first step on the road to success: she became a seamstress in a ready-made dress shop in the town of Moulins. The work brought her a small income, private orders appeared, but Chanel wanted chic and brilliance. She began to perform in a local cafe, performing unpretentious songs in front of the public: Qui qu`a vu Coco and Ko Ko Ri Ko. Since then, the name Gabriel has been forgotten: everyone began to call Chanel simply Coco. Let's be honest: Coco Chanel was an unimportant artist and performer, it was stupid to even dream of a career as a singer or actress! But the charming brunette was noticed by the right men, and this is exactly what she was striving for.

Man - a short path to success

Chanel accepted the offer of the young Baron Etienne Balsan to become his kept woman. Coco learned horse riding from Etienne, slept until noon, had coffee with milk in bed for breakfast and chocolates... The dreamer Coco, left to herself, began to create clothes and accessories for herself, which had nothing to do with the fashion of those years. After another love quarrel, Chanel moved to Balsan's Parisian bachelor apartment and opened a hat salon at his expense in 1909.

Chanel decided to “promote” her business on her own. Chanel's small round hats during her walks and outings attracted attention with grace and a complete lack of jewelry. So the first success came - and a new feeling: Coco became close to Etienne's friend, the English playboy Arthur Capel, who was destined to become the biggest and, perhaps, the only love in the life of the great mademoiselle. Arthur introduced Koko into his circle, introduced her to bankers, politicians, financiers. Capel's advice, connections and money helped Chanel open the first boutique in Paris, on Chambon Street, and a little later, the first branch of her store in Deauville, which in 1919 grew into a full-fledged fashion house, and the price tags on dresses reached 3 thousand francs. Coco got what she dreamed of - fame and a luxurious life. The price of success was the tragic sacrifice of his personal life. Both Etienne and Arthur loved Chanel, but married aristocratic women. The marriage of Arthur Capel was not successful, and he returned to Chanel again and again, but ... On December 22, 1919, Arthur crashed in a car. Chanel was left alone again and, in order to drown out the pain of loss, she plunged headlong into work.

immortal style

In an effort to free fashion from unnecessary luxury, Coco began with hats. The milliner removed the ostrich feathers and velvet from them. And then took up the outerwear. The first collection of women's clothing from Chanel is practical, comfortable and revolutionary in its way. The "sailor suit" for a beach holiday - a vest, wide light trousers, a beret - was sewn from knitwear that was pleasant to the body, which was previously used only for underwear. Chanel also came up with a straight silhouette without a waist, but with a scarf or belt on the hips and a neckline similar to the collar of a men's shirt. So in the arsenal of fashionistas appeared a shemizier dress, or shirt dress.

Chanel was accused of "robbing" the stronger sex and redrawing male English classic style for women. Instead of ruffles, frills, bows, corsets and dresses with bustles, Coco offered shirts and ties, trousers, jackets, jackets, knitted pullovers, leather jockey jackets. In addition, Chanel dared to "bring out" costume jewelry, short haircuts and a tan. Chanel's style culminated in the little black dress created in 1926. It was an outfit from Chanel's childhood: the pupils of the orphanage where she grew up wore black dresses with a small white collar. Impeccable proportions, ascetic simplicity of cut, sophistication of fabric, restrained colors - Coco turned the color of mourning and poverty into a symbol of elegance and taste.

“Fashion goes out of fashion,” Coco said, “style never”

Grand Mademoiselle and mistress

Chanel was surrounded by many famous Russian emigrants: Sergei Diaghilev, Igor Stravinsky (in the summer of 1920 they experienced a short but stormy romance). Chanel won the heart of Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich Romanov, nephew of Nicholas II.

Dmitry Romanov later married a wealthy American, but this connection brought Chanel a famous brainchild, which turned into millions in income. Dmitry arranged for Coco, a meeting with a perfumer, a Frenchman of Russian origin, Ernest Bo. Bo, as Chanel intended, created a mixed floral fragrance that no one else had done before. From several options for future perfumes, the customer chose fragrance number five. It is symbolic that Koko considered this figure lucky for herself and showed the new collections to the public only on the fifth day. Thus was born the legendary perfume Chanel No. 5.

Chanel was forty-two when a new aristocratic admirer entered her life. The Duke of Westminster was extravagant and fabulously wealthy. He was crazy about Chanel, but Coco refused the marriage proposal: "There are many duchesses, but only one Coco Chanel!" She did not want to sacrifice the Fashion House for the sake of the title and marriage and remained a great mademoiselle.

But Coco's most mysterious romance is her relationship with Walter Schellenberg, the head of intelligence, S.S. Chanel, volunteered to mediate peace negotiations between the Germans and the Allies, but Operation Fashion Hat failed. After the liberation of France, Koko was expelled from the country for cooperation with the invaders, and the lovers left for Switzerland. Chanel took care of Schellenberg until his death in 1952.

Discipline as an elixir of youth

Coco Chanel argued that the beauty of a woman does not depend on the age and price of the dress, but on the lifestyle, manners, grooming and spiritual harmony: “At twenty your face is given to you by nature, at thirty life molds it, but at fifty you must earn it yourself.” The best way to look good, according to Chanel, is a favorite thing: "Only work gives courage, and the spirit, in turn, takes care of the fate of the body." Not surprisingly, Chanel has always been in excellent professional shape: she presented her last collection when she was over eighty.

After hard work, Koko allowed herself periods of complete idleness in a country house, enjoying fresh air, freedom and loneliness. Chanel enjoyed fishing, planting flowers, taking care of the surrounding dogs, and riding horses. By the way, Mademoiselle was a “lark” and strictly followed the daily routine, taking at least seven to eight hours to sleep: “After a sleepless night, you can’t create anything worthwhile during the day. Going to bed after midnight means not sparing yourself. Personally, after twelve hours nothing interests me at all. Spare yourself for your own sake. Spare your ears, spare your eyes, spare your thoughts. What did you hear after midnight that you thought was more valuable own sleep? This is just what you have heard anyway, and besides, a hundred times ... ". Coco considered alcohol and excesses in food to be the enemies of beauty. Until her old age, she maintained a girlish harmony, preferring a diet of vegetables, fruits, and fish. Chanel's only unhealthy weakness was constant smoking.

Grand Mademoiselle created the philosophy and image of the new woman: “Fashion is created for several hundred people. I created a style for the whole world."

Text: Alina Krasnova.
Photo: Chanel press materials, archival photos.

Coco Chanel was born on August 19, 1883 in Saumur, France. Her parents were not married. The mother could not feed the child and gave her to an orphanage. When Gabrielle was 12 years old, her mother died, and her father gave the girl to a Catholic monastery, and then to a boarding school. Having been forced to wear a uniform for many years, she dreamed of dressing all women in her own way.

The founder of the most famous and chic fashion house many decades ago, laid the tradition of timeless elegance, timeless. Instead of endless innovations, Gabrielle Coco Chanel offered an updated classic of pleated skirts, women's trousers and blazers. Coat, and, of course, the famous Chanel-style suit. The ideas that she embodied at the beginning of the 20th century turned out to be truly revolutionary: she freed women from suffocating corsets, long puffy skirts, extravagant hats and intricate jewelry. Simple, strict, clear lines, emphasizing the dignity and hiding the flaws of the figure, have replaced ruffles and frills. Women enthusiastically accepted the ingenious philosophical concept of Chanel: to look great, it is not necessary to be young and beautiful. Chanel fashion never gets old. All her things - simple and comfortable, but at the same time stylish and elegant - remain relevant from year to year, regardless of the changes taking place in the fashion world.

After leaving the orphanage, young Gabrielle decided to try herself in the musical field. The untalented but very attractive cabaret singer often sang the song "Soso", after which she received her nickname Coco, which was fixed for life. She did not achieve much success in her musical career, but she made close friendships with several wealthy men. Chanel was familiar with such celebrities as Toulouse Lautrec, Renoir, Picasso, Diaghilev, Stravinsky. There, in "La Rotonde", Gabrielle, who never knew her father's affection, met a wealthy businessman Etienne Balzan and settled with him in the aristocratic suburb of Paris - Vichy. She wanted to dress differently from the wealthy courtesans who also lived in the area, and favored formal suits that were complemented by small, elegant hats.

Balzan bought her a store where she sold her hats, which eventually became a great success. Feeling confident, Chanel left Balzan and began to live on her own, maintaining a close relationship with Balzan's friend Kopel.

In 1918, Kopel died in a car accident. Coco again returned to the circle of Parisian bohemia. At this time, she was often seen on the French Riviera in the company of a friend of a pianist. Rumors spread about the milliner's bisexuality. Despite the fact that Chanel introduced the fashion for women's trousers, she rarely wore them herself, because she believed that a woman would never look as good in trousers as a man.

A short romance with one of the Russian Grand Dukes made her pay more attention to the details of the Russian folk costume, the motifs of which appeared in her styles. She had a close relationship with the French mystic poet Pierre River and with one of the closest relatives of the English queen.

During the difficult war years, many Parisian fashionistas lost their brocade dresses and ostrich feather boas. Instead, Chanel offered them simple shirt-cut blouses and knee-length skirts, replicas of her own unpretentious but always up-to-date wardrobe. Parisians enthusiastically accepted the "elegant simplicity of Chanel", and in the early 50s, fashionistas who recognized Chanel's style could already be seen throughout Europe. A well-dressed suit, a flirty hat that covers half of the face, high heel- the image of an elegant, confident and sexy lady without age. All that was missing was the last, barely perceptible, but necessary accent - a drop of perfume that would emphasize this image. Then Chanel created a perfume that became the most famous in the world and recognized as a work of art by descendants. Coco called her perfume "Chanel N 5", All her life she considered the five to be hers lucky number, invariably bringing her good luck. It is no coincidence that she always showed her new collections on the fifth day.

Already the uncrowned queen of Parisian fashion, Chanel offered her clients a few more revolutionary changes: plaid trousers, a short haircut and her famous "little black dress", in the past - the uniform of Parisian saleswomen, without which now any fashionista's wardrobe is considered incomplete.

In order to expand the circle of her clients, and at the same time to draw new creative ideas, Coco Chanel did not stop rotating in the circles of Parisian bohemia. It was here that she met the great Pablo Picasso, the famous ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev, composer Igor Stravinsky, playwright Jean Cocteau. Many were looking for communication with a famous fashion designer just out of curiosity, but they were surprised to find Coco a smart, witty, original-minded woman. Picasso himself called her "the most sensible woman in the world; men were attracted to her not only by her appearance, but also by her extraordinary personal qualities, strong character, unpredictable behavior. Coco was either irresistibly flirtatious, then extremely sharp, straightforward, even cynical. She seemed purposeful to those around her, self-confident, satisfied with herself and her successes woman.

And suddenly at the end of the 30s, being at the top of her fame, in the prime of life and creative energy, Chanel unexpectedly closed her boutiques and retired to Switzerland. The reasons for this unexpected act were called equal: both disappointment in her craft, and exhausting ten-year competition with another famous fashion designer, Elsa Chiaparelli, and of course the impending Second World War. One way or another, the next few years of voluntary imprisonment became the saddest chapter in the life of the great couturier. The already difficult situation was extremely complicated by Coco's love affair with a high-ranking German officer Walter Schellenberg, assistant to the SS commander Heinrich Himmler.

In the post-war years, Coco had a dangerous competitor - Christian Dior, who made women look like flowers by dressing them in crinoline, tightening their waists and putting numerous folds on their hips. Chanel laughed at this "hyperfemininity": "A man who has not had a single woman in his entire life strives to dress them as if he himself were a woman."

Mademoiselle Coco was generally jealous and stingy. She always wore scissors tied to a ribbon around her neck. There was a case when Chanel, seeing a Givenchy suit on one of her fashion models, came up and instantly ripped it open, saying that now the suit looks better.

In 1954, at the age of 70, she triumphantly returned to the world of fashion. "I could no longer see what designers like Dior or Balmain had done to Parisian haute couture," she explained her return.

The first reaction of connoisseurs and the press to the show of the new Chanel collection was shock and indignation - she could not offer anything new! Alas, critics failed to understand that this is precisely her secret - nothing new, only eternal, ageless elegance. In any case, less than a year later, a new generation of fashionistas began to consider it an honor to dress from Chanel, and Coco herself turned into a tycoon, managing the largest house in the global fashion industry.

There have always been many love affairs in the life of this woman, but none of them ended in anything serious. Offers, sometimes very tempting, of course, were made to her. Once the Duke of Westminster asked for her hand, to which she replied with her usual directness and irony: "The world is full of all kinds of duchesses, but only one Coco Chanel." After all, her work was the meaning of her life.

Until her old age, Chanel retained the flexibility of her figure and was very hardworking. Ideas for new costumes came to her even in a dream, and then she woke up and started working.

Gabrielle Chanel died a quiet death on January 10, 1971, at the age of 88, in a suite at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, across the street from the luxuriously decorated, world-famous House of Chanel. Her empire earned $160 million a year, and only three outfits were found in her wardrobe, but "very stylish outfits," as the Great Fashion Queen would say.

"I do not care what you think of me.
I don't think about you at all."
Coco Chanel

On August 19, the whole fashion world celebrates 130 years since the birth of Coco, and Passion.ru recalls the most significant facts from the life of this great woman, as well as her witty and very well-aimed phrases that have become aphorisms.

1. The desire to engage in women's outfits arose from Gabrielle Chanel under the influence of many years of living in an orphanage - the children there wore dull identical clothes, and when the girl had the opportunity to dress the way she wanted, she decided to make it her vocation.

2. The craving for minimalism arose as a counterbalance to the splendor of the outfits of the ladies of the “half world”. For some time, Chanel lived with her patron on the street, where there were many brothels, and in order to differ from their inhabitants, she began to wear strict restrained suits and small hats.

3. Gabrielle Chanel gained her first popularity by no means through the creation of clothes. Her "debut" was women's hats. One of her close friends helped her open a hat shop where she sold her creations. Reaction to the product has been mixed. Many accused Gabriel of being too avant-garde. However, very soon ladies from all over France began to come for hats "from Chanel".

4. It is believed that Gabrielle Chanel received her nickname "Coco" during her turbulent youth, when she worked as a singer in a cabaret. She sang two songs in which chickens were mentioned ("Coco"), and allegedly for this she was nicknamed "Chicken". However, there is another version: the father, with whom Coco Chanel practically did not communicate, called his daughter a chicken for her small stature and thinness, and when Gabrielle decided to take a pseudonym for herself, she remembered her childhood nickname.

5. The prototype of the world-famous clutch was invented by Coco Chanel. Someone loses gloves and umbrellas, and she always left her reticules everywhere. In addition, according to her, because of the need to carry a bag in her hands, her hands began to hurt. This great woman and then she found a way out by inventing a small handbag on a long chain, which has already become a fashion classic - the Chanel 2.55 model.

6. Coco Chanel did not part with scissors, they were always with her - in her purse or on a string around her neck. Once, at some reception, she literally shredded the outfit of one of her fashion models, who appeared there in a dress from another famous fashion designer. At the same time, Coco said that now the outfit looks much more elegant. This episode was included in the film "Coco before Chanel" with Audrey Tautou in the title role.

6. Coco Chanel did not recognize patterns. She created her creations, wrapping fashion models in fabrics and boldly cutting off the excess. Nevertheless, she became the first couturier who, having a direct relationship with high fashion, released her collection of clothes on an industrial scale.

7. In the guise of a woman, everything was important for Coco Chanel, which is why her interests extended not only to clothes, but also to shoes, and accessories, and hairstyles. However, there was something that occupied a special place in her life and in her work - perfume. She created her first fragrance by mixing 80 components in free proportions. And she received an unconditional masterpiece, which we know as Chanel No. 5.

True, there is an opinion that the author of these perfumes was not her, but a certain Russian perfumer who immigrated to France. He was developing the next collection and invited Coco to choose one version of the fragrance - Chanel preferred test tube number 5.

8. Coco Chanel valued freedom in everything - in movement, in choice, in worldview. She always acted as she herself wanted, and not as the public expected of her. She was not afraid to rid women of corsets, dress them in trousers and blazers, and forced them to cut long hair. Her courage also manifested itself in an affair with a handsome German officer who helped free her nephew from Nazi captivity. She had to pay for her love with imprisonment and expulsion from France.

9. For 14 long years, Coco Chanel was cut off from the fashion industry - first the war, then emigration and life in Switzerland, but all these years this great woman dreamed of a triumphant return to France.

And she returned. At the age of seventy, with his collection of timeless Chanel classics. She was booed. But Koko knew what she was doing. A year later, Paris again bowed at her feet. And no wonder - couturiers come and go, but Chanel remains.

10. Coco Chanel played such a significant role in shaping world fashion that Time magazine included her one of all the fashion designers in the list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

28 Coco Chanel quotes about life and success

1. When caring for beauty, one must start from the heart and from the soul, otherwise no cosmetics, alas, will help.
2. Old age does not protect against love, but love protects against old age.
3. If you want to have what you never had, you will have to do what you have never done.
4. If you were struck by the beauty of some woman, but you do not remember what she was wearing, then her outfit was perfect.
5. A woman should be dressed in such a way that she wants to undress.
6. Perfume must be applied where you want to get a kiss.
7. Be a chrysalis by day and a butterfly by night, for there is nothing more comfortable than a cocoon and more lovable than the wings of a butterfly.
8. Remember, you won't get a second chance to make a first impression.
9. You can get used to an ugly appearance, never to slovenliness.
10. In order to be irreplaceable, you need to change all the time.
11. Nothing ages a woman like a too rich (luxurious) suit.
12. Fashion passes, style remains.
13. A woman who prefers light colors in clothes is much more difficult to get out of balance.
14. We make ourselves: if a woman is ugly at 18 - it's by nature, if at 30 - from stupidity.
15. Perfume says more about a woman than her handwriting.
16. The main thing for a woman is to constantly work. Only work gives courage, and the spirit, in turn, takes care of the fate of the body.
17. Everything is in our hands, so there is no need to lower them.
18. Freedom is always stylish!
19. A woman should smell like a woman, not like a dried bouquet.
20. If a woman listens to her friends in matters of fashion, and not to her man, she often becomes a laughing stock.
21. Men like women who are well dressed but not conspicuous.
22. Ruthlessly remove anything that is excessive.
23. Restrain yourself when it hurts, and not make a scene when it hurts, that's what a real (ideal) woman is.
24. Fashion has two goals - convenience and love. Beauty arises when fashion achieves its goals.
25. The worse things are for a woman, the better she should look.
26. Fashion, like architecture, is a matter of proportion.
27. Women with good taste wear jewelry. Everyone else has to wear gold.
28. If you were born without wings, don't stop them from growing.

10 commandments of style from Coco Chanel

jackets . This also gives a sense of external and internal freedom.

Bow down to little black dresses.

Perfume is also clothing.

As much as Mademoiselle Coco Chanel did for women, perhaps, not a single couturier in the world did. They tried to copy her, she is still admired, almost every lady has a little black dress in her wardrobe and tries to follow the precepts of the trendsetter of modern fashion. And all this happens because Chanel is always relevant.

Nadezhda POPOVA

Irreconcilable, brave, stubborn - such was Coco Chanel, the woman who created the little black dress and conquered the whole world in it. We invite you to immerse yourself in the life story of the great designer.

Coco Chanel was an innovator by vocation - she was the first to cut her hair in a boyish square, put on trousers and a tweed jacket, complementing it with a string of pearls. It began a new era in the fashion world, marked by the concept of "simple luxury".

It was Coco Chanel, who remained a mademoiselle all her life, who proved that a woman is worth a lot on her own, without an influential man behind her back. She had always dreamed of breaking free - and once she had, she couldn't afford to lose her.

Childhood

Gabrielle Chanel was born into a poor family of a merchant and the daughter of a carpenter in 1883, in the city of Saumur. There was not enough money in the family, and soon after the death of her mother, her father gave 12-year-old Gabrielle along with her sisters to an orphanage at the monastery.

In the future, Chanel will try her best to forget about her poor childhood and even invent herself new story: for many years she will tell everyone that she was born in 1893 in Auvergne, which will completely confuse biographers.

And yet, childhood seriously influenced her work: simple, comfortable outfits in dark colors reminiscent of the orphan dresses she wore for a long period of her life.

Six years of life in a monastery and the lack of a minimum set of necessary clothes led to the fact that Chanel's only dream was the desire to escape poverty in any way, to succeed and be able to live in luxury.

What to see in the Latin Quarter - a description of the sights of the quarter, a map of the quarter, hotels:

Carier start

After leaving the convent, 18-year-old Gabrielle Chanel gets a job as a salesperson in a clothing store. In pursuit of a better life she moonlights in a cabaret, more often than others performing two songs from her repertoire - "Ko Ko Ri Ko" and "You have not seen Koko", for which she gets her nickname.

Proud Coco, hoping to achieve more, agrees to become Balzan's mistress and moves into his mansion. Later, she will try to erase from her memory that she was once paid for - and will pay other people's bills herself.

At first, Balzan perceives Chanel as another of his joys, but soon falls in love with a rebellious girl and even offers her marriage. Gabrielle refuses him: at that moment she had already met Balzan's friend, the Englishman Arthur Capel, who bore the nickname Boy.

A few years later, Chanel leaves Balzan and starts an affair with Boy, but prefers to live alone in a small Parisian apartment and tries to lead an independent life. One way or another, then she still could not do without outside help and Boy paid her bills.

A new relationship consumes her: Chanel falls head over heels in love with Capel, and their relationship leads to a breakthrough for the fashion designer. From another trip to the coast, she brings a fishing vest, and also tries on sweaters, shirts and trousers of her lover.

In the new image, Chanel went for a walk around the city: everyone looked at the eccentric girl in men's trousers with undisguised surprise. But soon her name began to gain popularity in the fashion world: in 1910, Coco opened her first store in Paris, and three years later - in the French town of Deauville.

Entrepreneur woman

The heyday of her career came during the First World War. The store in Deauville was empty, and Coco Chanel worked as a nurse in a hospital for the wounded.

In the difficult war years, Chanel is inspired: she understands that now women need practical clothes made from inexpensive, wrinkle-resistant fabrics. And he starts to create.

Paying attention to the work clothes of saleswomen, she creates a comfortable dress with pockets. Black socks on light shoes, so popular until now, were also invented for reasons of expediency, because black is less dirty.

The war ended, and it seemed that everything went smoothly: new models began to be sold with a vengeance, beloved Boy returned from the front alive and unharmed. However, the happiness did not last long: already in 1918, Boy Capel dies after crashing into a tree in his Ford car.

For Chanel, a period of black has come. It was her way of expressing grief for her dead lover: she was not supposed to wear mourning, because they were not married, so she simply dyed all her everyday clothes black. And then, unwillingly, she dressed the whole world in black.

For several years in a row, all of her collections consisted entirely of black. Hue, previously considered suitable only for mourning, has become the most trendy color decades. Thus began perhaps the most successful period in the life of Coco Chanel.

Mistress but not wife

As Chanel herself later admitted, Boy Capel was the only true love in her life. After Boy's death, Chanel plunges into a string of both short and long love affairs, none of which lead to anything more.

In 1918, she meets the Russian prince Dmitry Romanov, with whom she has a brief affair. This period in the work of Chanel is closely connected with Russian motifs in clothing.

After Romanov, Chanel closely communicated with the composer Igor Stravinsky, and then with the poet Pierre Reverdy. But no one awakens in her a long-extinct feeling

Her relationship with the Duke of Westminster almost reached marriage. She set him a firm condition that she no longer intended to remain a mistress - only a wife. The Grand Duke issued a reverse ultimatum: if 46-year-old Chanel can give him an heir, he will marry her.

Long attempts at treatment did not give any results, and after 8 years of mutual reproaches, the couple broke up. All further novels Coco Chanel never got so deep again. In the first place, once and for all, was work, pushing personal life into the background.

Years without work

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Chanel closes all its stores, believing that in these difficult times there is no place for fashion. Another test happens in her life: the only nephew of the fashion designer, Andre Palace, is captured by the Germans.

In ethereal attempts to free him, Chanel tries all methods and finally finds a solution: turning to her friend, Baron von Dinklage, an employee of the German consulate, she returns her nephew, and herself enters into a love affair with the German baron for the duration of the war.

This connection will cost her dearly: after the end of the war, she will be accused of complicity with fascism. According to the documents of the cases brought against her, she was in the service of German intelligence and regularly transmitted information about the French government to opponents.

In 1944, she was arrested on suspicion of espionage, but released almost immediately on the condition that she leave the country. So the 61-year-old Chanel leaves her beloved France and moves to Switzerland.

A new beginning. Return to the world of fashion

A decade later, when the hype surrounding the scandal has been forgotten, Coco Chanel returns to Paris and finds the fashion capital of the world completely changed. Exaggerated femininity from Dior rules on the catwalks: those puffy skirts, crinolines and an underlined waist that Coco hated so much.

With disdain for the new fashion, she prepares her first post-war collection in the old tradition. And it suffers a complete collapse: women, who during the war years were hungry for ostentatious wealth and luxury, refused to wear simple and ascetic outfits from Chanel.

At that time, Mademoiselle Chanel was already 71 years old. The fashion world considered her a broken piece, a discarded product, but not a competitor. However, after only three fashion seasons, her design ideas are once again gaining recognition.

Chanel makes another breakthrough by suggesting that women replace an uncomfortable reticule with a functional yet elegant chain handbag. Soon, a jewelry line appeared in her collections, bringing a huge income to the House of Chanel.

Her all-time classic tweed suit was worn by Jacqueline Kennedy on the day of John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963. The pink jacket with the president's blood splattered forever remained imprinted in the journalistic chronicle and, thanks to this, gained even more popularity.

Final years and death

Mademoiselle Chanel has always been famous for her difficult, grumpy character, and by the end of her life she became simply unbearable. She was acutely sensitive to criticism and was very jealous of her competitors.

Eminent fashion designers turned a blind eye to Chanel's caustic remarks about their new collections. But the matter was not limited to words: they say that one day, when she saw Givenchy's outfit on a model, an enraged Chanel unceremoniously ripped it right on the poor girl.

She was also skeptical about someone else's personal life: when one of the models became pregnant, Coco Chanel kicked her out, recommending "to calve elsewhere." In the depths of her soul, Chanel recalled her failures, because after many attempts she was never able to have children.

In recent years, Chanel has moved to the Ritz Hotel, where she has been wooing employees and guests of the hotel. In the middle of the night, she could leave the room and go to the laundry, or even wander through the corridors of the hotel with her eyes closed. The staff was scared to death of her.

This amazingly strong woman died in 1971 at the age of 88. She left only three outfits in the wardrobe, and in the fashion world she left a magnificent legacy in the form of perfume, a 2.55 handbag and a little black dress. The day of her death marked the end of a great era.