Background:
Coco Chanel (born Gabrielle in 1883) began her fashion career after opening a millinery shop in 1912 making simple but stylish hats. A ready market helped her expand into clothes and by the 20 's she had built a substantial fashion house with its emphasis on comfortable elegance. It swept away the fussy, sometimes painful clothes considered suitable for women of the time and her designs blended features previously exclusively male with innovative fabrics. They were astonishing to the more rigid tastes of the times and marked to liberation in women's fashion. Her signature creations included the jersey suit and dress, the draped the turban, chemise, pleated skirts, the cardigan suit, the little black dress, the sling pump, the box jacket, the strapless dress and thetrench coat.
Chanel first branched into perfumes in 1922 with the iconic No 5 (it was the fifth and last in a selection she had commissioned). As with her fashion it defied norms. When most perfume bottles of the time were adorned with hers was simple and modern, when others reflected a single floral essence (rose, lily of the valley) hers was a complex mix of natural and synthetic and the name itself was at odds with the overly-poetic naming standard conventions.
Cosmetics Range:
Cosmetics Guide: Chanel Interested This: