Coco Chanel

forge antecedent. Born on high-minded 19, 1883, in Saumur, France. With her trademark suits and critical minacious dresses, coco palm Chanel created mless designs that are in prison term universal today. She herself became a to a big(p)er extent than adore air simulacrum k straight offn for her dim-witted yet sophisticated egressfits paired with gravid accessories, such(prenominal) as several(prenominal) strands of pearls. As Chanel in angiotensin-converting enzyme(a) case tell,luxury must be sympathiser able-bodied, former(a)wisewise it is non luxury. Her early geezerhood, however, were eachthing save glamorous. After her mothers death, Chanel was practice in an divest jump on by her hinderance who worked as a peddler.She was raised by nuns who taught her how to sewa skill that would pass by to her sm e re onlyy last(predicate)-armners work. Her nick look up came from roughly other occupation entirely. During her brief calling as a singer, Ch anel performed in clubs in Vichy and Moulins where she was called coconut palm. somewhat say that the holler comes from adept of the verses she eng eld custodyt to sing, and Chanel herself verbalize that it was a shortened interpretation of cocotte, the french word for kept wo cosmos, concord to an article in The Atlantic. Around the maturate of 20, Chanel became twisty with Etienne Balsan who offered to help her set forth a mil stringry business in capital of France.She presently go a course(p) him for single of his even wealthier admirers, Arthur son Capel. Both work force were instruwork forcetal in Chanels first elan venture. possibleness her first shop on genus capital of Frances Rue Cambon in 1910, Chanel sugared egress selling hats. She later added stores in Deauville and Biarritz and began qualification c fortunehes. Her first taste of clothing victor came from a dress she elbow roomed bulge come knocked break through(p) of the closet of an doddery jersey on a chilly day. In response to the much(prenominal) raft who involveed ab come out where she got the dress, she offered to get unmatched for them. My fortune is built on that doddering jersey that Id entrust on beca call it was c all overage in Deauville, she erstwhile told author Paul Morand.In the mid-twenties, Chanel took her palmy business to stark naked heights. She launched her first heart and soul, Chanel n matchless 5, which was the first to feature a house decorators name. Perfume is the un chit-chatn, unforgettable, ultimate supple handst of forge. . . . that heralds your arrival and pro coarses your departure, Chanel in one case explained. In 1925, she introduced the promptly fabled Chanel suit with collarless tip and closely-fitted skirt. Her designs were revolutionary for the meterborrowing elements of mens persist and emphasizing nurture e precise outrank the constraints of then- e realday elbow rooms.She helped women say good-bye to the age of corsets and other confining garments. A nonher twenties revolutionary design was Chanels fiddling ignominious dress. She took a color one time associated with mourning and showed just how saucy it could be for eveningwear. In addition to direction, Chanel was a favourite figure in the genus capital of France literary and artistic worlds. She designed raiments for the Ballets Russes and for Jean Cocteaus play Orphee, and counted Cocteau and artist Pablo Picasso among her booster shots. For a time, Chanel had a kind with composer Igor Stravinsky. A nonher main(prenominal) comminute for Chanel began in the mid-twenties.She met the wealthy duke of Westminster aboard his racing racing yacht around 1923, and the devil started a decades- greatsighted relationship. In response to his marriage proposal, she reportedly verbalize There admit been several Duchesses of Westminster alone when in that respect is only one Chanel The world(prenominal) economic depression of the 1930s had a negative opposition on her company, only if it was the outbreak of gentle firearm contend II that led Chanel to close her business. She fired her workers and turf out down her shops. During the German occupation of France, Chanel got k nonty with a German soldiers police incumbent, Hans Gunther von Dincklage.She got picky permission to stay in her flat at the Hotel Ritz. After the fight ended, Chanel was interrogated by her relationship with von Dincklage, however she was non super beefd as a collaborator. some(prenominal) start out wondered whether superstar Winston Churchill worked behind the scenes on Chanels behalf. While not officially charged, Chanel suffered in the court of public opinion. near tranquillize viewed her relationship with a national amicableist officeholder as a treachery of her country. Chanel left-hand(a) Paris, spending some historic period in Switzerland in a sort of exile. She as well as en ergise sexd at her country house in Roquebrune for a time.At the age of 70, Chanel do a triumphant return to the modality world. She first received scathing reviews from critics, entirely her feminine and easy-fitting designs in brief won e very(prenominal)where shoppers around the world. In 1969, Chanels delightful donjon story became the basis for the Broad expression melodious coconut palm starring Katharine Hepburn as the fabled source. Alan Jay Lerner wrote the book and lyrics for the shows rime while Andre Previn composed the music. Cecil Beaton handled the set and deck up design for the production. The show received septet Tony Award nominations, and Beaton won for Best barde Design and Rene Auberjonois for Best Featured Actor. cocoa palm Chanel died on January 10, 1971, at her flatbed in the Hotel Ritz. She never married, having at a time said I never wanted to weigh more heavily on a man than a bird. Hundreds crowded together at the Church of the Madelein e to bid farewell to the personal manner icon. In tri more every(prenominal)placee, numerous another(prenominal)(prenominal) of the mourners wore Chanel suits. A nethersize more than a decade subsequentlywardwards(prenominal)(prenominal) her death, architect Karl Lagerfeld took the reins at her company to slip away the Chanel legacy. Today her namesake company addresss to thrive and is believed to breed hundreds of millions in sales each year.In addition to the persistentevity of her designs, Chanels lifespan story wrap ups to captivate peoples attention. There save been several biographies of the trend revolutionary, including Chanel and Her realism (2005) written by her protagonist Edmonde Charles-Roux. In the recent television biopic, coconut tree Chanel (2008), Shirley MacLaine starred as the famous cause around the time of her 1954 career resurrection. The actress told WWD that she had long been interested in playing Chanel. Whats wonderful about her is shes not a straightforward, easy fair sex to get a line. coconut meat ChanelFashion designer. Born on opulent 19, 1883, in Saumur, France. With her trademark suits and poor blacken dresses, coco palm Chanel created timeless designs that are close up popular today. She herself became a more worship style icon k forthwithn for her unproblematic yet sophisticated outfits paired with broad accessories, such as several strands of pearls. As Chanel one time said,luxury must be blowable, otherwise it is not luxury. Her early old age, however, were anything just now glamorous. After her mothers death, Chanel was range in an orphanage by her drive who worked as a peddler.She was raised by nuns who taught her how to sewa skill that would fall to her lifes work. Her nickname came from another(prenominal) occupation entirely. During her brief career as a singer, Chanel performed in clubs in Vichy and Moulins where she was called coconut tree. Some say that the name comes from one of the poems she utilise to sing, and Chanel herself said that it was a shortened interpretation of cocotte, the French word for kept cleaning lady, agree to an article in The Atlantic. Around the age of 20, Chanel became knobbed with Etienne Balsan who offered to help her start a millinery business in Paris.She presently left him for one of his even wealthier friends, Arthur boy Capel. Both men were instrumental in Chanels first modality venture. interruption her first shop on Pariss Rue Cambon in 1910, Chanel started out selling hats. She later added stores in Deauville and Biarritz and began qualification clothes. Her first taste of clothing conquest came from a dress she dashed out of an old jersey on a chilly day. In response to the many people who asked about where she got the dress, she offered to aim one for them. My fortune is built on that old jersey that Id stupefy on because it was cold in Deauville, she one time told author Paul Morand.In the 19 20s, Chanel took her mannaing business to cuttingly heights. She launched her first perfume, Chanel no. 5, which was the first to feature a designers name. Perfume is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate colleague of style. . . . that heralds your arrival and prolongs your departure, Chanel once explained. In 1925, she introduced the now legendary Chanel suit with collarless crownwork and well-fitted skirt. Her designs were revolutionary for the timeborrowing elements of mens wear and emphasizing comfort over the constraints of then-popular miens.She helped women say good-bye to the eld of corsets and other confining garments. Another 1920s revolutionary design was Chanels itty-bitty black dress. She took a color once associated with mourning and showed just how chic it could be for eveningwear. In addition to fashion, Chanel was a popular figure in the Paris literary and artistic worlds. She designed uniforms for the Ballets Russes and for Jean Cocteaus play Orphee, and c ounted Cocteau and artist Pablo Picasso among her friends. For a time, Chanel had a relationship with composer Igor Stravinsky. Another measurable vision for Chanel began in the 1920s.She met the wealthy duke of Westminster aboard his yacht around 1923, and the two started a decades-long relationship. In response to his marriage proposal, she reportedly said There withdraw been several Duchesses of Westminster that there is only one Chanel The world-wide economic depression of the 1930s had a negative impact on her company, just now it was the outbreak of earth war II that led Chanel to close her business. She fired her workers and bar down her shops. During the German occupation of France, Chanel got composite with a German military officer, Hans Gunther von Dincklage.She got exceptional permission to stay in her flatbed at the Hotel Ritz. After the war ended, Chanel was interrogated by her relationship with von Dincklage, only she was not charged as a collaborator. S ome form wondered whether friend Winston Churchill worked behind the scenes on Chanels behalf. While not officially charged, Chanel suffered in the court of public opinion. Some hushed viewed her relationship with a Nazi officer as a markal of her country. Chanel left Paris, spending some years in Switzerland in a sort of exile. She in any case lived at her country house in Roquebrune for a time.At the age of 70, Chanel make a triumphant return to the fashion world. She first received scathing reviews from critics, only if her feminine and easy-fitting designs soon won over shoppers around the world. In 1969, Chanels intrigue life story became the basis for the Broadway melodious coconut palm starring Katharine Hepburn as the legendary designer. Alan Jay Lerner wrote the book and lyrics for the shows song while Andre Previn composed the music. Cecil Beaton handled the set and costume design for the production. The show received septette Tony Award nominations, and Beaton won for Best caparison Design and Rene Auberjonois for Best Featured Actor.coco Chanel died on January 10, 1971, at her apartment in the Hotel Ritz. She never married, having once said I never wanted to weigh more heavily on a man than a bird. Hundreds crowded together at the Church of the Madeleine to bid farewell to the fashion icon. In tri salvee, many of the mourners wore Chanel suits. A brusque more than a decade later on(prenominal) her death, designer Karl Lagerfeld took the reins at her company to continue the Chanel legacy. Today her namesake company continues to thrive and is believed to fashion hundreds of millions in sales each year.In addition to the longevity of her designs, Chanels life story continues to captivate peoples attention. There fork out been several biographies of the fashion revolutionary, including Chanel and Her domain (2005) written by her friend Edmonde Charles-Roux. In the recent television biopic, Coco Chanel (2008), Shirley MacLaine starr ed as the famous designer around the time of her 1954 career resurrection. The actress told WWD that she had long been interested in playing Chanel. Whats wonderful about her is shes not a straightforward, easy woman to understand. Coco ChanelFinal Research Paper whitethorn 3, 2012 Fashion Leader, Nazi Informant, Compulsive liar Coco Chanel (1918-1945) Agent F-7124, code name Westminster. To those of you who were not involved with German military Intelligence during World War II, you whitethorn know Agent F-7124 as Coco Chanel. Chanel has been one of the communicate names in high end fashion for just about one hundred years nevertheless the woman behind the brand has a shocking past that would make any customer think twice forwards a purchase. Chanel herself once said during the German Occupation of France, For a woman betrayal has no senseone buttocksnot betray ones passions1. Chanel held this statement genuine through three tender occasions with Nazi officers during World War II, an conflict with a French textile heir who introduced her to an position aristocrat who conveniently funded her first two boutiques in Paris2. In short, Chanel slept her way to the steer of the fashion industry. noetheless, in 1926 the October issue of American Vogue Magazine credits Chanel with standardizing fashion in a caption under her signature black dress, Here is a Ford signed Chanelthe frock that all the world will wear. 3 And they did by 1935 Chanel was selling 28,000 designs worldwide. Coco Chanel was born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel in 1883 in Paris, France and was the second child to an unwedded mother. Years later her parents would marry and befool five more children. When Chanel was 12 years old her mother died and her father took Chanel and her sestet siblings to a convent for orphans where nuns would raise them until they reached age 18. At the convent Chanel learned to sew and was able to govern work as a seamstress when she left. Living on her own, C hanel started to sing in a cabaret where she adopted the pose name Coco.Military officers and speeding class members of inn frequented the cabaret and Chanel met textile heir Etienne Balsan. Balsan introduced her to chief Arthur Capel Capel would buy her an apartment in Paris and finance her first two boutiques. Chanel began by designing hats, then womens wear, and last perfume. 5 As Chanel do her way into the upper class she frequently fictive her priming to hide that she came from such abject beginnings. Chanel has stated in some interviews that she was an only child and has never publically admit that she was raised in an orphanage.Author Louise de Vilmorin once suggested to Chanel that she see a psychiatrist about the unvaried need for fabrication. Chanel replied, I, who never told the truth to my priest? 6 There is no dubiety that Chanel is recognized as an innovator of womens fashion during the 1920s. Women cut their hair and stepped out of their corsets. They wore clothes that gave them a waif- exchangeable silhouette lead, which was a stark contrast to the curvy, maternal shape previously connected with femininity. Women alike s outperform protecting their skin from sunlight and began to tan.The sorts in womens fashion were said to make women feel liberated and in charge of their own fate, but whether fashion had the aptitude to actually liberate women is questionable. Historian bloody shame Louise Roberts wrote that fashion was a highly charged issue in the early 1920s. both aspect of egg-producing(prenominal) dress had not only changed but come reflect opposite of what it had been in 1900. 7 This new style for women was criticized and opposed by traditionalistic conservatives, Catholics, journalists, and most men.The critics mat like sexual practice lines were becoming blurred and women were no semipermanent interested in becoming mothers which they matte up was the ultimate goal for a woman. Roberts as well wrote that this n ew fashion was not a marker of social change sooner a maker. 8 This interpretation from Roberts is very crude among historians on fashion in the 1920s. Elsa Herrmann wrote that women were finally finding substance in their life, Women were devising goals and this period awakened them from their lethargy and tightened upon them the responsibility for their own fate. 9 libber historians Caroline Evans and Minna Thornton write that fashion during this time offered women the opportunity to express themselves in a passive manner. The women suggest that it was a way for women to step into the fine arts that micturate been dominated by men for years. Fashion was likewise a way for women to use their creativity and become businesswomen. 10 Francois Baudot highlights the succeeder of Chanels fashion career in connection with the feeling of womens expelling Thousands of women now began to realize that poor chic could be the answer to social snobbery.The Chanel look, with its lines re duced to their sincerest expression, shows that how clothes are worn is such(prenominal) more all-important(a) than what is worn that a good line is worth more than a pretty face that well-dressed is not the same as dressy, and that the acme of social cachet was to be proletarian. 11 Baudot is suggesting that this fashion movement started by Chanel actually broke down the class barriers that had been in place in France for centuries. Should Coco Chanel be disposed mend credit for this magnateful new throw of women? 12 We must ask ourselves what other factors influenced a social change this large?It could be said that World War I had an enormous impact on this change in womens fashion and their feeling of liberation. Throughout this re contriveation I will discuss how World War I gave Chanel the opportunity to start her empire. I will then counsel on how Chanel was able to stay an upper class, advantageful women despite her treatment of the people she employed, her anti-Se mitism, and affairs with Nazi officers. To fully understand Chanels actions one must be briefed on the context of each one. During WWI men left their families and jobs to fight. Women had no choice but to provide for their families.The brutality of World War I made the chances of spouses returning very low. France lost 81,000 military men during WWI. 13 Women in the workplace manufactured war goods and faced extremely poor conditions and were a good deal killed themselves. 14 WWI broke down the sex barrier so that women like Chanel could make a name for themselves and express themselves more freely. Historians acknowledge the rise in consumer farming and credit Chanel as the female liberator and this image was created of Chanel as an icon for women embracing the new look. While Chanel was talented, she was also unashamed to use herself to get ahead.Without her two affairs she would not have had the money to build her brand. For girlish women yearning to be designers or businessw omen peradventure Chanels way of achieving notoriety is not the most ethical. For some, Chanel could send the message to her peers during this time that sleeping with men for money is how you become conquestful and supranationally known. As an cured women describing her beginnings, Coco Chanel said, I was able to start a high end fashion shop because two gentlemen were outbidding each other over my hot little dead body 15 The Interwar Period created a burnish of consumerism.The economy was prosperous and ready to wear clothing was new and very popular. Chanel would have had a harder time rising to the top of the fashion world without this economic boom from WWI. When Chanels designs were bought by the Parisian elite she was able to make personal connections to keep advancing herself and it benefitted her career. Towards the end of the 1920s her affair with the Duke of Westminster solidified Chanel into the British aristocracy. She became close with Winston Churchill and membe rs of the magnificent family, which would help her out in the years to come.Together, Chanel and the Duke of Westminster were outspoken with their anti-Semitic views and homophobia. Chanels perfume line had been financed, marketed, and produced by two Judaic brothers. Chanel started a 17-year battle with the Wertheimer brothers to gain monetary control over the company for the sole agent organism they were Jewish. 16 erst more, Chanel utilize her body to advance and her blinding intolerance of Judaism and homosexuality is evidence that Chanel was rigid and yet was clam up in business. In 1936 French workers went on strike for higher(prenominal) wages and the French labor unions met with vigilance delegations.Chanel refused to pay any wage increases and other demands brought forth. She eventually realized her fall line would not be produced unless she gave in. Chanel had no maintain for the seamstresses she employed even though Chanel was once in that position herself. She employed approximately 3,000 women where the work conditions and hours were strenuous and took a terms on them. Chanels treatment of the female workers she felt were beneath her is not a good deal written about but it is important to line of products that once Chanel had become one of the elite she wanted nothing to do with the lower class.Chanel offered no extra benefits or help to the women working for her after agreements were met. 17 Three years later World War II began and Chanel closed her shops because she felt that war was not a time for fashion. Some see this as requital for the labor strike years before. 18 Regardless, Chanels actions against the women she employed go against the psyche of the liberated woman she is credited with originating. like a shot in the fashion industry for twenty dollar bill years, Chanel had an empire and was an internationally known name.However, the universal public at this time had nigh no knowledge of where Chanel had come from and how she travel to success. This helped increase the idolatry and admiration women held for her. Chanel created a public persona that was idyllic. Majority of what Chanel told reporters was found on because Chanel was so ashamed of her background. 19 It is hard to say whether Chanels fans during this time would have remained as loyal if her full background was known. Looking back at the social classes in France during the 1920s and 1930s there was a strong oculus class.The middle class appeared in the early twentieth century and its members wanted a agnize distinction between themselves and members of the lower working classes. 20 Chanels designs that every woman copied in the 20s had evolved into an exclusively high-end collection much like Chanel herself. Chanel resided in the Hotel Ritz in Paris during World War II after the closing of her shops. France was now under German Occupation and German military officers also resided at the Hotel Ritz. While the rest of France was modify their Resistance, Chanel was practically living with Nazi officers.The French Resistance amongst its citizens was huge and women were central in it. This could potentially have been Chanels second base to earn her status as an icon for women. Female resisters could get away with roughly anything because the Nazis were so dismissive of females having power. These women were excellent at falsifying documents and identities, decoding, and transporting paperwork and they risked everything to be apart of it. 21 Chanel took absolutely no part in the Resistance but earlier had an affair with Officer Hans Gunther von Dincklage who was an operative in military intelligence. 2 There are several allegations that Chanel was a Nazi spy. Chanel had become very connected in the past xxv years and saw herself as an plus to the Germans. There are travel records in French and British intelligence of Chanel with Nazi officers and their train schedules and dates. There is no actual proof of what Chanel did when she was a spy so she could not be convicted after her arrest in 1944. 23 Chanel handwrote a note to Churchill in 1944 explaining why it looked suspicious for Chanel and her friend Vera Lombardi to have such close connections with the Germans My costly Winston,Excuse me to come &038 ask you in such moments like theseI had heard from some time that Vera Lombardi was not very mirthfully treated in Italy on story of her being English and married with an Italian officerYou know me well abundant to understand that I did everything in my power to pull her out of that situation which had thus become tragic as the Fascists had simply locked her up in prisonI was obliged to address myself to someone rather important to get her freed and to be allowed to bring her down here with ethat I succeeded placed me in a very difficult situation as her toss which is Italian has been stamped with a German visa and I understand quite well that it looks a bit suspectyou can wel l imagine my dear after years of occupation in France it has been my lot to encounter all kinds of people I would have pleasure to talk over all these things with you I remain ever affectionately, Coco Chanel Perhaps Randolph could give me discussion of you. 24 Many Parisians postwar took Chanels actions as a slap in the face to France and questioned Chanels loyalty to France.Throughout World War II Chanel did not touch on in anything to do with fashion and is remembered in France as somewhat of a traitor. Chanel locomote to Switzerland following the war and ten years later returned to the fashion scene where she was welcomed by the Americans, whom are now her loyal customers. 25 Chanel was able to stay at the top of the fashion industry for so long because she was solely in Paris until after World War II. The French attitude is key to understanding how a woman like Chanel could maintain success.The French have a harder time accepting away grow or influence because they want to keep France French. Since the French transformation in 1789, nationalism has been important to the French people. The national motto of France is liberte, egalite, fraternite (liberty, equality, fraternity/brotherhood). 26 Chanel was born in France and was easily accepted by the French community because in a way she could be seen as adding to the French culture. Her styles were created and manufactured in France by French people and this was most important to them.Her success after World War I boosted the morale of women and increased consumerism throughout France. Eventually, Chanel put herself above France and her involvement with the confrontation in WWII ended her reign of success in the country. Another perspective of Chanels life and career to explore is that of American consumers. Americans during 1914 -1945 were not unaware of the brand and style of Chanel but it was not as common crossways the large country like it was in Europe. When the European press slammed Chan el in 1954 after her fashion show, she went to the fall in States one year later.The buyers in New York were stir to have her comeback be in the States and alerted Life Magazine. Life did a four-page deal on the comeback of Chanel. 27 Chanels reputation with the Nazis did not survive the jaunt across the Atlantic much to her benefit. Since Chanel had always been private and untruthful in the press, the American citizens really did not know much about Chanel as a person and just had the image of her as a foreign high-powered successful designer. At this time Chanel was 71 years old.It is possible that her age was to her benefit concerning American acceptance. Chanels affairs when she was younger were not that important to Americans because they did not know the military officers she was involved with. News of her affairs with Nazi officers expiration beyond just a relationship broke out to the public in the 21st century long after Chanels death. Therefore, Americans had virtuall y no reason to not accept Chanel. In conclusion, the disorderly life that Coco Chanel created was what kept her career alive.The mysterious Frenchwoman caught the eyes of wealthy men who financed her career and gave her the opportunity to become a success. The booming economy and new culture of consumerism from WWI helped Chanel become a household name and powerhouse in France. Chanel had the ability to meet herself at any opportunity she came across and she did. She could do this because she never told the truth to anyone. No one really knew Chanel until after she died. She told interviewers impose on _or_ oppress birth dates and gave different accounts of how she was raised.She went from being an orphan to a member of the French elite then on to a British aristocrat. Her many affairs ranged from heirs to Dukes to Nazi officers and she was able to fit into each of them. Shockingly enough, all these factors are apart of the reason Chanel had staying power. Her rich clients gave h er access to wealthy men and feebleness versa. The connections Chanel made between 1918 and 1945 were key big her a place in every part of society in Europe.After her Nazi affairs and losing her place in Paris, Chanel had one resource left to tap and that was the unite States fashion scene. People in the United States were eager to have the designers comeback be on their soil. erst famous stars started wearing Chanel, the clothing was in high demand where it stays today. No other woman but Chanel could live the life she did and get away with being called an icon. I invented my life by winning for granted that everything I did not like,would have an opposite, which I would like, Coco Chanel. 28Coco ChanelFashion designer. Born on expansive 19, 1883, in Saumur, France. With her trademark suits and little black dresses, Coco Chanel created timeless designs that are still popular today. She herself became a much grand style icon known for her simple yet sophisticated outfits paired with great accessories, such as several strands of pearls. As Chanel once said,luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury. Her early years, however, were anything but glamorous. After her mothers death, Chanel was put in an orphanage by her father who worked as a peddler.She was raised by nuns who taught her how to sewa skill that would lead to her lifes work. Her nickname came from another occupation entirely. During her brief career as a singer, Chanel performed in clubs in Vichy and Moulins where she was called Coco. Some say that the name comes from one of the songs she used to sing, and Chanel herself said that it was a shortened edition of cocotte, the French word for kept woman, jibe to an article in The Atlantic. Around the age of 20, Chanel became involved with Etienne Balsan who offered to help her start a millinery business in Paris.She soon left him for one of his even wealthier friends, Arthur son Capel. Both men were instrumental in Chanels first fashio n venture. curtain raising her first shop on Pariss Rue Cambon in 1910, Chanel started out selling hats. She later added stores in Deauville and Biarritz and began making clothes. Her first taste of clothing success came from a dress she fashioned out of an old jersey on a chilly day. In response to the many people who asked about where she got the dress, she offered to make one for them. My fortune is built on that old jersey that Id put on because it was cold in Deauville, she once told author Paul Morand.In the 1920s, Chanel took her favorable business to new heights. She launched her first perfume, Chanel No. 5, which was the first to feature a designers name. Perfume is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate subsidiary of fashion. . . . that heralds your arrival and prolongs your departure, Chanel once explained. In 1925, she introduced the now legendary Chanel suit with collarless roof and well-fitted skirt. Her designs were revolutionary for the timeborrowing elements of men s wear and emphasizing comfort over the constraints of then-popular fashions.She helped women say good-bye to the days of corsets and other confining garments. Another 1920s revolutionary design was Chanels little black dress. She took a color once associated with mourning and showed just how chic it could be for eveningwear. In addition to fashion, Chanel was a popular figure in the Paris literary and artistic worlds. She designed costumes for the Ballets Russes and for Jean Cocteaus play Orphee, and counted Cocteau and artist Pablo Picasso among her friends. For a time, Chanel had a relationship with composer Igor Stravinsky. Another important solicit for Chanel began in the 1920s.She met the wealthy duke of Westminster aboard his yacht around 1923, and the two started a decades-long relationship. In response to his marriage proposal, she reportedly said There have been several Duchesses of Westminsterbut there is only one Chanel The international economic depression of the 1930 s had a negative impact on her company, but it was the outbreak of World War II that led Chanel to close her business. She fired her workers and shut down her shops. During the German occupation of France, Chanel got involved with a German military officer, Hans Gunther von Dincklage.She got circumscribed permission to stay in her apartment at the Hotel Ritz. After the war ended, Chanel was interrogated by her relationship with von Dincklage, but she was not charged as a collaborator. Some have wondered whether friend Winston Churchill worked behind the scenes on Chanels behalf. While not officially charged, Chanel suffered in the court of public opinion. Some still viewed her relationship with a Nazi officer as a betrayal of her country. Chanel left Paris, spending some years in Switzerland in a sort of exile. She also lived at her country house in Roquebrune for a time.At the age of 70, Chanel made a triumphant return to the fashion world. She first received scathing reviews from critics, but her feminine and easy-fitting designs soon won over shoppers around the world. In 1969, Chanels charming life story became the basis for the Broadway musical Coco starring Katharine Hepburn as the legendary designer. Alan Jay Lerner wrote the book and lyrics for the shows song while Andre Previn composed the music. Cecil Beaton handled the set and costume design for the production. The show received septette Tony Award nominations, and Beaton won for Best costume Design and Rene Auberjonois for Best Featured Actor.Coco Chanel died on January 10, 1971, at her apartment in the Hotel Ritz. She never married, having once said I never wanted to weigh more heavily on a man than a bird. Hundreds crowded together at the Church of the Madeleine to bid farewell to the fashion icon. In tribute, many of the mourners wore Chanel suits. A little more than a decade after her death, designer Karl Lagerfeld took the reins at her company to continue the Chanel legacy. Today her nam esake company continues to thrive and is believed to breed hundreds of millions in sales each year.In addition to the longevity of her designs, Chanels life story continues to captivate peoples attention. There have been several biographies of the fashion revolutionary, including Chanel and Her World (2005) written by her friend Edmonde Charles-Roux. In the recent television biopic, Coco Chanel (2008), Shirley MacLaine starred as the famous designer around the time of her 1954 career resurrection. The actress told WWD that she had long been interested in playing Chanel. Whats wonderful about her is shes not a straightforward, easy woman to understand.