Born in 1883, Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel (later named Coco) lived a full life and left a legacy which will live on for generations to come. Like most designers, she had humble beginnings and was the first and only fashion designer too have ever appeared in Time’s magazine under the title ‘most influential people.’

This French damsel transformed fashion from the torturous corset to well fitting ‘chic’ clothing, still highly prominent today. Her line grew from clothing to jewelry, handbags and her famous signature scent Chanel No . 5. Throughout her work she made friends with all the right people and created a network so powerful.

Her ambition, determination and strong will shaped her reputation as a professional businesswoman and she lived up to all that was expected off of her.

In the Beginning…

Chanel was born into a rather poor family, her mother being a wash woman who later died from a terrible case of bronchitis at a tender age of 31. Her father was a nomadic sales man who travelled to and fro markets and later remarried.

It is believed that Coco Chanel fabricated many of her life stories and the true story is not known. The only facts are of her mother and father and nobody knows for sure if ever she worked in a factory and managed to scrape up just enough to start her own legendary  company. What remains is that she had an eye for fashion...

Growing up, she spent 6 years learning how to saw and worked in a café as a singer and her juvenile character entertained the solders who frequented the place, this is where she earned her nickname Cocette, meaning ‘kept woman’.

This was later shortened to Coco, the realization that she would never cut it in the performance industry opened golden doors for Miss Chanel.

Stay tuned for part 2