Coco Chanel was a rebel with pinking shears.
Born Jeanne Gabrielle Chanel at the end of the 19th century, her maverick fashion designs were to dictate womenswear throughout the 20th century and beyond. From the life-saving ‘little black dress’ to a simple jersey knit, Chanel’s rejection of the frills and fuss of the Edwardian era saw a generation of women embrace the art of chic.
Chanel was born illegitimately into a poor family. She was raised in an orphanage after her mother died and her father ran off.
Given her austere convent education, it was somewhat surprising that she had a stint as a cabaret singer at 17 after giving up her first job as a seamstress. Chanel, whose signature tune was ‘Ko Ko Ri Ko’, acquired her trademark nickname ‘Coco’.
A lifetime of fraternisation and friendships with men earned her the patronage and connections needed to make it as a designer and businesswoman in this male-dominated era and by 1910 she opened her first millinery shop in Paris.
Chanel became the first designer to use jersey in the 1920s and her loose but exquisitely cut designs, from the cardigan jacket or classic Chanel suit to the much-coveted short bathing costume, coincided with mass production in fashion and became ubiquitous. Her fragrance, Chanel No.5, with its unprecedented cube-like bottle and plain white label became an instant classic and the costume jewellery she introduced to the mainstream – particularly pearls – still delights the Top Shop hordes today!
Chanel’s desire to be different manifested itself in her sartorial style – she blurred gender boundaries, wearing very plain and strictly tailored clothes and wearing her hair cropped.
Jean Cocteau, who knew a thing or two about transcending the boundaries between different fields, said Chanel had, “by a kind of miracle, worked in fashion according to rules that would seem to have value only for painters, musicians, poets.”
Chanel, who never married and designed tirelessly until her death in 1971, helped shape the form of women’s clothing as it is today. A revolutionary? I should Coco.
