Coco Chanel and Fashion

Privacy remained an element of high priority throughout Coco Chanel's life. She clearly made a point to not let her success in business invade her personal life. It is of little surprise, therefore, that rumors and questions regarding Chanel's life and past continue to resound. What was she like on a personal level? What was her background? What accounts for her tremendous drive and ambition? Although some information about her life remains disputed and unresolved to this day, light has been shed on a significant part of her life nonetheless.

Gabrielle ("Coco") Chanel was born August 19, 1883, in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France. She experienced a traumatic early childhood with the death of her mother at age six and the subsequent abandonment by her father shortly thereafter. Her childhood was spent in Auvergne, France where she was raised by two aunts. It was her aunts who taught Coco that little girls should be polite, sit up straight, and learn to sew. Ironically, sewing remained a skill that forever eluded her (History Traveler, 1971). As an unusually intelligent child, however, Gabrielle demonstrated her talents in fashion at an early age, such as dressing her dolls in curtains which she cut into pieces of material (Picken, 91).

Unlike most girls her age, Gabrielle enjoyed participating in outdoor sports and had a particular zeal for horseback riding. As a result, her slender and muscular silhouette resembled that of a young boy's. Gabrielle's passion for horseback riding continued on into adulthood, when she would often awaken at the crack of dawn to ride. This resulted in her nickname, "Cocorico" (cockadoodledoo), later shortened to Coco among her intimate friends.

At the age of sixteen, Coco traveled to Paris with millionaire cavalry officer Etienne Balsan, and it was through him that Coco acquired an appreciation for wealth and high society. Soon after, Coco opened a millinery boutique which earned her enough acclaim to set up a store in Paris in 1914. The idea of using masculine clothes came to her one cold afternoon when Coco put on a polo player's jersey with a turtleneck, which she would later launch as female fabric. Chanel's fondness for jewelry actually was inspired by these more masculine styles, as she began to use jewelry to "feminize" them.

As Chanel gained success in her career, she purchased an elegant home on the rue du Faubourg St.-Honore with gardens opening to the avenue. The house was in fact classed as a "monument historique" by the government (Picken, 91). Decorating her home in purely elegant shades of white, beige, and brow, it was here that Coco entertained the elite social circle to which she belonged. Many of Chanel's guests were artists and musicians, including Stravinsky, Picasso, Cocteau, and Jose Maria Sert among others. Her library is famous for many of the original manuscripts given to Coco by these artists and musicians.

Even though Coco Chanel publicly circulated in high-society social circles, there are several private facets to Chanel's more personal life that are not widely known to the general public. These include Chanel's short-lived career as a nightclub singer and her sinister involvement with the Nazi regime.

Although Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel quietly passed away at the Ritz Hotel on the night of January 10, 1971, her legacy and contributions to the world of fashion continue to live on.