By 1913, the thirty-year-old Gabriel Chanel has two stores in France. Borrowing money from Arthur Capel, with great excitement, she opens a store in the French resort of Biarritz, on the border with Spain. With this milestone, the Chanel brand begins conquering Europe.
And already in 1915, a fashionable European magazine wrote: "A woman who does not have at least one dress from Chanel in her wardrobe can be considered hopelessly behind fashion."
Over the course of a century, Chanel’s fashionable things can be endlessly enumerated: from classic coats to elegant brooches. Today the Chanel House is 150 boutiques all over the world and hundreds of thousands of brand products.
According to some reports, the company's annual turnover is more than a billion dollars. And the brand’s logo is one of the most recognizable and cited in the fashion world, as well as the name of its founder, the great Coco Chanel.
Who is she? How was the life of this woman? Where does Gabriel Chanel come from? You will learn about all this by reading the article.
Coco
“My father really did not like the name Gabriel. He was afraid that they would call me Gaby. Therefore, he came up with the affectionate nickname Coco, which meant chicken. ”
Gabriel came up with this beautiful story to drown out the pain of a lonely childhood in which there was no fatherly love. The nickname Gabrielle Chanel received much later from visitors to the Rotonda cabaret, where she performed after shifts in the store. In several songs that she performed, this word constantly sounded.
Gabriel Chanel: biography, childhood
She was born on August 19, 1883 in a shelter for the poor in the French town of Saumur. The name Gabriel came to her from a nurse-nun in a hospital shelter. Neither the mother - the daughter of an ordinary hard worker, nor the father - a wandering merchant, could come up with a name for the newborn. The girl became the second of five children in this family.
When she turned 12, her mother died, exhausted by asthma. Father, who had a passion for the road and drinking, and the trace caught a cold. The authorities identified two sons as abandoned into a strange family, which received benefits for them, and the brothers plowed like damned. Three sisters took root for a short time with their uncles and aunts, but soon found themselves in a monastery orphanage.
Later, Chanel spoke of those events as blows unbearable for the child’s soul, then she had to deeply feel what it was like to lose everything. This pain gave rise to a hopeless inferiority in the girl, which pushed her to desperate courageous deeds up to her gray hair.
Uncompromising, arrogance, insolence. Hatred for the idle lifestyle of bohemians and a burning desire to earn on their own in order to achieve all the benefits of this life. That's all that Coco found in her difficult childhood. And this was useful to her in order to prove to him, who had left her an indifferent person with an untalented fate, that she is and she is worthy of love. By the way, they did not meet with his father anymore.
Singer
Two years after her native monastery, Coco spent in another guesthouse, after which she was assigned to work in a bridal shop in the city of Moulins.
Quickly gaining trust from store customers, she took small home orders. But the dream of an artist’s career brought to the stage of the Rotonda cafe, where she sang popular songs and earned the first glory and attention of men.
The rumor about a young singer quickly spread through a small soldier's city. And the brisk orphan was miserably kicked out of her decent position in the store.
Paris
The meeting with Etienne Baysan opened the door to another world. Military, an aristocrat by birth, he had a huge inheritance and a glorious character. Their relationship began in that very Rotunda.
Having moved to his country house, the young provincial got access to social life, but never became Etienne's legal companion.
When Gabriel Chanel, whose youthful photo was presented to you in the article, decided to open an atelier, Baisan refused her a loan, but provided his Paris apartment for this purpose.
Despite the warm relationship, Etienne never confessed his love and was not eager to marry. His feelings flared up when the mistress went to another. The other was his closest friend.
The battle
Arthur Kapel, in the circle of friends known as the “Fight”, was an orphan, but managed to create a fortune and was adopted in high society. With him, Coco realized that it was not necessary to be born rich - you could become her. Thanks to the battle, she began her career as an entrepreneur.
He gave money to the workshop. He gave a loan, because only with such a condition did the proud modiste accept them. So, in 1910, the first Chanel brand boutique appeared in Paris. At first there were hats, but later it was filled with other creations of the beginning couturier.
In 1913, Arthur’s money opened a second store in the resort town of Deauville. With the arrival of the Germans in France, in 1914, there were many wealthy refugees in Deauville. Gabrielle was able to repay all debts to Capel and open another boutique in Biarritz, where she began her march through Europe.
And Etienne and Arthur, meanwhile, shared Coco for a whole year. She at that time was calmly busy with the business. Capel understood that this was a truly independent woman, and did not even try to make her his wife.
The battle remained the main love of her life. In 1919, he died in a car accident. The one who gave her everything again made her feel a terrible feeling from childhood - complete emptiness and loneliness.
Gabriel Chanel: personal life
Life went on. In 1920, Coco met Dmitry Pavlovich Romanov, the Grand Duke and cousin of the last Russian Tsar. He is young, handsome, and single. Their short relationship helps her forget about grief.
The Duke of Westminster is the richest man in those times in England. He staged her shows in London, without which one could not hope for success in Paris. Coco admitted that only with him did she feel protected and weak. He was able to replace her father. To marry her, the Duke divorced for three years, but because of the inability to have an heir from Gabriel, they still parted.
Paul Irib - a talented artist and sculptor. He was the first and last man with whom they really were going to get married. He died in a hospital after suffering a heart attack in her arms. This happened during a tennis match, shortly before the appointed wedding. After his death in 1935, Chanel could not sleep peacefully for many years.
In the fall of 1940, she begins to meet with German national Hans Gunter von Dinklage. This connection was not approved by anyone. Of course, Coco didn't give a damn about everyone. Due to relations with Hans, she is expelled from the country, he follows her. But the family did not work out again, and at this Chanel stops looking for happiness in love, completely surrendering to work.
War
By the 40s, Gabrielle Chanel, whose photo you see in the article, had five stores at Rue Cambon in Paris. With the fascist occupation, it closed them all. During the war, she revolved in Nazi circles, because only then they could buy her goods. But, it should be noted that having a commercial interest, she never thought about political upheavals.
Towards the end of the war, arrests of collaborators began - Coco was interrogated. They say that before entering the station, she said: "If I have been gone for a long time, call Churchill." She was not arrested, but was strongly advised to leave France for communication with the Nazis.
She could never forgive this Motherland. After 9 years of exile in Switzerland, Chanel bequeathed to bury herself there.
Return
In 1954, 15 years after the House was closed, she returned. But the sensation ended in failure - the public did not accept the collection. Chanel vomited and threw. She could not concede superiority to Dior, whose new bow Parisian women appreciated for splendor, deliberate decorativeness and bright colors. Coco always promoted discreet luxury and dreamed not of a seasonal style, but of a noble classic.
With gloomy frenzy, she set about creating the second collection and emerged victorious. She achieved recognition by supplanting the men who reigned at that time on Olympus fashion.
Coco ascended so that she would never again go down the catwalks. She brought fashion, comfort, beauty and elegance back into fashion. Her style is an eternal classic, a sign of good taste, a hymn to simplicity and luxury, the freedom to be oneself.
Care
On January 11, 1971, when she was about to go to work, she felt unwell. The ampoule with the usual drug did not give in, only the maid could open it. But the injection did not help. She died of a heart attack in the Ritz hotel room in Paris, which replaced her home. It was the first day in her life when she did not go to work.
Russian footprint in the life of Chanel
What "Russian trace" did the famous Coco Chanel leave? Here are some facts:
- Based on the Russian men's shirt, Coco came up with a blouse that became a business classic for French women.
- The imperishable aroma of Chanel No. 5 is a development of the Moscow perfumer Ernest Bo.
- Chanel invented the bottle for perfumes herself, taking as a basis the damask of Russian vodka presented by Romanov.
- The first "Russian Seasons" Diaghilev in Europe paid Coco.
- When the Russian Ballet does not have enough money to pay for Diaghilev’s funeral in Venice, she will take over everything again.
- Her house was the haven of the immigrant Russian intelligentsia.
