Welcome back to Fashion Philosophy! Earlier this month, I had my first-ever sniff of Chanel No. 5 and fell in love with it. Beyond that, Chanel is my favorite high-end brand and I find Coco Chanel herself incredibly interesting, so I thought it was high time that there be a Fashion Philosophy post dedicated to her.

Now, it would be easy to just look at Chanel’s latest collection and recreate some of the outfits. Instead, I’m going to focus on the influences that founder Coco Chanel had on the fashion world, keeping some of her most famous quotes in mind.

Table of Contents

History 101: The Early Life of Coco Chanel

• Coco Chanel was born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel on August 19, 1883. Her mother was an unwed laundrywoman and her father was a nomadic street peddler. Eventually, though, her parents did marry.
• Chanel’s mother died in 1895 when Chanel was only twelve years old. Her father, unable to care for her and her siblings, sent them off to receive the best possible care he could afford. Chanel and her sister wound up in a convent that ran an orphanage for girls.
• At the age of eighteen, Chanel left the convent and began to work as a seamstress, singing in a cabaret on the side. It was in the cabaret that Chanel adopted the name “Coco,” inspired by two of her signature songs.
• Ever the opportunist, Chanel became the mistress of Captain Arthur Edward Capel in 1908, who had the means to pay for an apartment for her in Paris and even provide the funds necessary for her to open her first shops.
• In 1918 Chanel bought a building at 31 rue Cambon, which still serves as the fashion house’s flagship store today. By 1921, she had opened her most famous fashion boutique.
• Though Chanel’s later life became quite controversial (for example, she was accused of helping the Germans during the Second World War and was outright homophobic) it is clear that the fashion world was never the same after her influence. Chanel also proved that with enough determination and creativity, one can achieve tremendous success despite coming from such humble beginnings.

Elements of Coco Chanel’s Style

Simplicity

Chanel is one of the two early twentieth-century designers credited for freeing women of the elaborate, confining Victorian style. (Paul Poiret was the second.) One of my favorite Coco Chanel quotes echoes the thoughts of every woman who sees images of Victorian fashion: that women should have “the possibility to laugh and eat, without necessarily having to faint.”