Coco Chanel

CHANEL

Gabrielle Chanel was born in Saumur (Maine et Loire) 19 August 1883. Upon the death of his mother (she was 12 years old), she was abandoned by his father. She spent her youth in an orphanage in Corrèze. At the age of 20, she entered as a saleswoman in a clothing store for ladies in Moulins (Allier). At that time, she feels drawn to the scene and made his debut in singing in a cafe-concert in the city performing "Qui qu’a vu Coco ? "which told the story of a lost dog.

It is often argued that this is the song owes its nickname, but it is also the name given him by his father when she was tiny. (« Coco Chanel, un parfum de mystère » by Isabelle Fiemeyer).
Coco Chan1In 1908, she met Arthur Capel called "Boy" which was the great love of his life. She decided to go to Paris and joined him in his apartment on Avenue Gabriel. In 1909, she set her first modiste shop in a bachelor flat Boulevard Malesherbes. The next year, thanks to Boy, she moved into larger premises at 21 rue Cambon, in the 1st district. We can read on a small plaque at the entrance: "Chanel Modes". In the summer of 1913 while staying in Deauville, Boy rents a shop between the casino and hotel Normandy. As in Paris, Coco is a modiste (*) but the sign has changed with her full name: GABRIELLE CHANEL. The shop is always full.

(*) The term “modiste” means "Designer of hats."

At the beginning of the next summer, during the last months of peace, she launches out into the fashion and quickly attracts a rich clientele. Her rise has continued despite the war and in favor of a stay in Biarritz, she opened her first real fashion house. Thanks to his only inspiration, she shortens the skirts, removes the waist, in a word frees the woman's body by modernizing women's clothing. She launched the fashion of short hair, popularized the jersey and will employ up to 300 employees before coming back to Paris to settle at 31 rue Cambon.


Ernest Beaux  In 1921, she launched her perfume brand. She entrusts the creation of her first perfume "Chanel No. 5" to Ernest Beaux, designer of perfume at the court of the Russian Tsars. He presented to Coco Chanel two sets of samples numbered from 1 to 5 and 20 to 24. She chose the sample No. 5. To the question "What name will you give it?» She replied: "I launch my collection on May 5, the fifth month of the year, leave it the number it wears This number 5 will bring it luck.

"Coco Chanel said that the perfume was much more important than the bottle itself. She will therefore choose a simple refined glass bottle and stamp of a black and white label. The avant-garde art is such that the bottle will be exhibited in New York in 1959 at the Museum of Modern Art. Andy Warhol inspired it in a pop art silkscreen.

In 1954, during an interview, a reporter asked Marilyn Monroe what she wore to sleep, the actress replied simply: "a few drops of No. 5." Unwittingly, the declaration of Marilyn made a great advertising slogan. How lucky for Chanel that Marilyn made this confession because, since, the No. 5 remains the star product of the house.

In 2004, Chanel rolls out red carpet and dedicated to the No. 5 an advertising movie for 2 minutes (the longest in the history of the pub!) Directed by Baz Luhrmann (to whom we owe "Moulin Rouge") and interpreted by Nicole Kidman.
       
Marlyn Monroe