Coco Chanel: Overview

“In order for one to be irreplaceable, one must always be different. ” –Coco Chanel Thesis Statement: The designs created by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel inspired an entirely new concept to women’s fashion by simplifying women’s clothing while still making it fashionable. I. Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel spent all her life denying her humble beginnings. A. Chanel was born an illegitimate child. 1. Chanel’s mother and father were not married when Chanel was born. 2. Chanel’s parents were not married until Chanel was fifteen months. B. Coco” Chanel was abandoned by her father and put into an orphanage once her mother passed away. 3. Chanel’s mother died when Chanel was six years old. 4. Chanel’s father put Chanel and her two sisters in an orphanage and her brother were sent to family farms as unpaid workers. II. “Coco” Chanel changed the view on women’s clothing, from tight fitting dresses to simple loose fitting clothing. C. Chanel brought the famous little black dress to the fashion world. 5. Before Chanel introduced the little black dress in 1926 black was only used for mourning, servants, and the clergy. 6.
Once the little black dress became a big hit in the 1930s because they were affordable for anyone to buy. D. Chanel said that her whole career is based on a jersey that she made during a cold day in a town called Deauville. 7. A jersey was an undergarment for men and was once never used as a fashionable item for women in French fashion houses. 8. The jersey that Chanel made was simply cut from the front with an added ribbon, collar, and a knot once Chanel was being stopped in the middle of the street and asked where she had gotten the “dress” she told them all that she will make them the dress.
III. In Chanel’s later years after the death of the love of her life Arthur “Boy” Chapel Chanel went through a series of intense but brief relationships. E. Chanel had numerous relationships with many wealthy men. 1. Chanel’s most indelible relationship was with a Nazi spy and the Duke of Westminster. 2. All of Chanel’s partners asked for her hand in marriage to which she all denied. F. Chanel went into exile because her reputation was tainted from her romance with the Nazi spy Hans Gunther Von Dincklage. 9.

Chanel faced an ample amount of her relationship with Dincklage. 10. In result of her relationship with Dincklage she was even interrogated by the French government. G. When Chanel went into exile she had closed down all of her shops and stopped designing clothes. 11. Chanel made a comeback in 1954 in reaction to Christian Dior’s “New Look”. 12. Chanel’s said “Fashion has become a joke” (American Decades2). IV. Chanel made impacts in the world that she herself never meant to do in the beginning. H. Chanel’s work is still around today. 13.
By the end of the 20th century every major fashion included the little black dress in their collection. 14. Chanel was one of the first to popularized tanning after getting sun burned while on vacation in the Mediterranean. I. Chanel still left a mark in today’s world. 15. The Chanel house now has over 100 boutiques in the world and is one of the most recognized fashion houses in the world for fashion. 16. Chanel’s success was powered by the strength of her personality, her desire for independence , and her need to be different(Business Leader Profiles for Students4) V.
Chanel lived her whole life challenging social limits on women’s fashion and always succeeded. J. Chanel brought stylish and functional clothing into all her collections. 17. Chanel did something that no one else in her time was doing and that was liberating women from constricting clothing. 18. Chanel became an expert in knowing what women wanted when it came to clothing and women responded with enthusiasm(American Decades2) 19. Chanel revolutionized women’s clothing twice in her lifetime(American Decades1) VI.