Family and name

No one has lived a life like mine. I did not understand anything. No one taught me anything. I had to get to everything on my own.

In August 19, 1883 Eugenia-Jeanne Devolle and Albert Chanel, who were not married at the time, had a second daughter. The girl was born in an orphanage for the poor, and she was named Gabrielle Boner Chanel: Gabrielle, after the midwife who assisted in the delivery.

Tanning

Fashion is not just a matter of clothes. Fashion is in the air, it is brought by the wind. Everyone feels it, breathes it. It is both in the sky and on the road.

Among the innovations, the author of which is rightly considered to be Coco Chanel, are the first synthetic fragrance, the little black dress, the use of "men's" jersey fabric for women's clothing and the fashion for tanning. Thanks to Coco, women stopped being afraid of the sun and fell in love with it, and it really happened by chance. In 1923, Gabrielle got a tan during a cruise and appeared in Cannes looking like that - society picked up the new fashion immediately.

The work process

Fashion became a joke. Designers forgot there was a woman underneath the dress. Most women dress for men and want to be admired. But they also need to be able to move, get in the car without tearing their dresses! Clothes should be naturally shaped.

Chanel didn't create patterns or draw sketches. She worked "live" with mannequins, and she used pencils and paper with pins and dressmakers' scissors. Coco always said that a dress should live and move, and with a wave of her scissors she created an emblematic silhouette right on the model from shapeless fabric.

Handbags

Only young girls can afford to invent their own fashion. Mature and aging women must follow the prevailing fashion.

Coco once confessed that she lost her handbags all the time. This is not surprising, because before Chanel, women's handbags almost never had handles and had to be carried in the hand. Coco took care of this problem and did so in a simple and ingenious way: she added a chain to the quilted bag, the length of which could be adjusted. This gave birth to the 2.55 bag, still considered ideal thanks to its handy shape. Interesting fact: the appearance of this bag not only helped to finally free women's hands, but also generally added to their image of dynamism thanks to the crossbody technique.

Marriage

There should be no handsome men, and there are no ugly ones. There are only a few flowers and warm champagne.

Coco was never married. According to one of the legends that surround her person, she refused the Duke of Westminster, saying that there could be as many duchesses as they wanted, but Mademoiselle Chanel was the only one. She also did not end her fashion shows with a wedding gown as a matter of principle.

Scissors

If you can't go to the theater in a dress that's hanging in your closet, why is it still there? Similarly about men: if you don't feel beautiful and desirable next to your man, surrounded by love and care, why are you still with him?

Scissors are an object that constantly accompanied Coco Chanel. Wherever she went, she always had them with her: in her purse or on a string around her neck during fittings. At one of her receptions, Chanel surprised everyone for the umpteenth time by literally cutting an outfit from one of her models - it was from a different couturier. So the outfit became much more elegant - this vivid episode was later included in the movie "Coco Before Chanel" with Audrey Tautou.