Coco Chanel

Her real name was Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel. She was a fashion designer. She was born in France in 1883 and died in 1971 with 88 years old. She was the one of the most powerful women after world War I. Also, Time magazine recognized her as one of the one hundred most influential people of the 20^th century.

Her mother worked in the poorhouse where Gabrielle was born. She died when Gabrielle was six and then her father abandoned her in a nun’s orphanage. When she was 18, she left the orphanage and worked as a café singer, where she takes’s the nickname of Coco, which it comes from one of the songs she used to sing. After, thanks to two lovers, she funded her first store in Paris in 1910 selling hats to rich women. Then, she added stores in other cities of France and began making clothes. After, she launched her first perfume, Chanel No.5, which was the first to feature a designer’s name, that now it’s also produced. Then, she was so famous and continues to work as a fashion designer.

Her designs were revolutionary for the time. I think that she’s a genius because she created designs that are still popular today. She has left us the little black dress (know as LBD). She was the first to introduce blacks a fashion colour. She took the colour once associated with mourning and showed just how chic it could be for eveningwear. She has left us also the perfume Chanel no. 5. it was and is a star-perfume, because even Marilyn Monroe in one of her interviews says that she go to bed every night only with two drops of this perfume. Finally, she gives us other things like men’s pullover sweaters, sailor jackets, straight skirts and trademark suits, the new working costume. She was often inspired by the everyday clothes worn by working people around her like the white collar and cuffs of a waitress. She also popularized the use of fake jewels.

SARA COMA ARENY