Chanel, Coco

(1883-1971) (Gabrielle Chasnel)

   fashion designer

   one of the modern leaders of haute couture, whose name is synonymous with elegance and chic, Gabrielle Chasnel, or Coco Chanel, as she is known, was born in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire. In 1916, she opened a shop in Paris where she designed simple and elegant clothing. Her style soon became part of the liberating movement in women's fashion, which her classic Chanel look would dominate during the 1920s and 1930s. It consisted of a casual but extremely well-cut wool jersey suit with a straight, collarless cardigan jacket and short, full-cut skirt, worn with art deco costume jewelry and often a sailor hat over short hair. Chanel was also the first couturière to launch a brand of perfume—Chanel No. 5 (1921)—which itself became world famous. It was one of several that she created. Coco Chanel designed little during World War II and in the immediate postwar years, but in 1954, she successfully revived the understated Chanel look, which soon became universally popular. The American musical Coco (1969), by Alan Jay Lerner and André Previn, is based on her life.