Coco Chanel

(1883–1971). French fashion designer Coco Chanel led the high-fashion world in Paris, France, for almost six decades. Her elegantly casual designs inspired women to abandon the complicated, uncomfortable clothes—such as petticoats and corsets—that were common in the 19th century. Among her now-classic innovations were the collarless suit, bell-bottomed pants, costume jewelry, and the “little black dress.”

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel was born on August 19, 1883, in Saumur, France. After her mother died when Chanel was young, her father placed her in an orphanage. After briefly working as a shopgirl, Chanel sang for a few years in a café. In 1913 she opened a tiny millinery shop in Deauville, France. There she also sold simple sportswear, such as jersey sweaters. Within five years her designs had attracted the attention of wealthy women seeking relief from the prevalent constricting styles. Chanel’s clothes stressed simplicity and comfort and revolutionized the fashion industry. By the late 1920s the Chanel industries employed 3,500 people and included a fashion house, a textile business, perfume laboratories, and a workshop for costume jewelry.

A large part of Chanel’s empire revolved around Chanel No. 5, the perfume she introduced in 1922. The perfume, a combination of jasmine and several other floral scents, was more complex and mysterious than the single-scented perfumes then on the market. That Chanel was the first major fashion designer to introduce a perfume and that she used a simple, sleek bottle also added to the scent’s success. A partnership with the businessmen who produced and marketed her fragrance left her with only a small percentage of the royalties. Despite instigating a series of lawsuits, Chanel failed to regain control of her signature fragrance.

Chanel closed her fashion house in 1939 with the outbreak of World War II but returned in 1954. After her death on January 10, 1971, in Paris, her fashion house was led by a series of different designers. This situation stabilized in 1983, when Karl Lagerfeld became chief designer.