Coco Chanel, through her innovative design, liberated women from the restraints of common fashion trends. Changing the way people thought about almost everything in fashion. Coco Chanel will always be someone to look up to for fashion, and someone to trust when it comes to fashion. This was going to change the way people saw fashion and the world’s view on it. Coco Chanel had many different things that she had changed in fashion, not only clothes but how people felt about suntans. “She is arguably the most influential fashion designer of all time” (Wonderland Magazine Par 1).
During Coco Chanel’s fforts to change fashion, there was a war going on so most of the women had to wear trousers to work, which they mainly worked the male jobs. The first major change she went to the beach while wearing sailor’s pants, other women saw this and it spread very quickly. This shows that Coco Chanel played a big role in society very quickly. Things changed not dealing with clothes, but how dark your skin was; in 1923 Chanel got sunburnt while on a cruise, while her peers admired the new look they had followed the new trend.
But, that all changed at the start of the 20th century when being pale was “in”. To others eing tan was a sign of being wealth and beauty, this was a trend that lasted quite some time. As you can already see Coco Chanel is making big impacts already, people looked up to and trusted her. Chanel used other things like Jersey, the Branded Perfume, Costume Jewelry, The Little Black Dress, and the Chanel suit these were also major hits.
She published a photo of a short black dress in a 1926 issue of Vogue, calling it “Chanel’s Ford,” because, like the Model T, it was simple and accessible for women of all social classes (Lester, Tracey) Coco Chanel was a French fashion designer and business women, her real name as Gabrielle Bonheur born August 19th, 1883. She had a brief singing career before opening her first clothing shop in 1910 and 1920, she launched her first perfume and eventually the Little Black Dress. The main goal of this was for women to be comfortable in their own clothes.
Chanel once said “Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury” (A&E Television Networks Par 3). However her life turned upside down when her mother died when she was younger, she was put into an orphanage by her father. Chanel was taught by nuns how to sew and a skill that would lead her to greater things later on in life. Chanel opened her first shop on Paris’s’ Rue Cambon, starting out selling hats later adding more stores in Deauville and Biarritz than she began making clothes. Her first taste of clothing success came from a dress she fashioned out of an old jersey on a chilly day.
In response to that people asked where she had gotten the dress, Chanel offered to make them one. She always said that her fortune was built on the jersey selling all because it was cold in Deauville. In the 1920’s Chanel’s first perfume “Chanel No. 5″ thrived as her new business was growing into amazing things, this was first to be featured in a esigner’s name. Many people helped Chanel in launching her business in selling her product like, Theophile Bader and Paul Wertheimer. But didn’t get a fair deal on any of the money, she only got ten percent and tried to sue to get her money back.
Chanel No. 5 was a very big hit, which would have gotten her a lot more money than she deserved. As this shows Coco Chanel made a big impact on society already, she has done so much in the fashion industry. But, as the international economic depression was coming in the 1930’s, this caused Chanel’s line to have a negative impact. Chanel later closed all of her stores nd fired all of her workers because of World War II. Coming back at the age of seventy she made a triumphant return to the fashion world. Chanel was the first couture fashion designer to cater to the independent European woman, rejecting the corset and, instead, promoting less binding, ‘boyish’ attire for the modern, working woman” (Cochrane, Lauren Par 1). Her life became a Broadway Musical, that was a hit, showing what a big impact she made on the world. Chanel changed the fashion for World War II, she creates the “Little boy look” while the women had to work in the men’s jobs. Coco Chanel has had many things impact her company and what she has tried to do.
That did not stop her in any way, she changed fashion during that age and helped the things become what they are now. “I see fashion as an art form” (Manning Par 1). This is how Coco Chanel saw fashion and she turned it all into “art”, people loved her style and the way she wore things that they felt the need to make it a trend. Also, women wore things for a reason, it was a way to show they were fighting for their freedom. Throughout history, fashion has been used as a tool to show how women’s rights were changing. The change on the century made the fashion change into a simpler and more practical wear.
In the early 1900’s women never really showed their skin, so after 1910 the women started to show their structure and it became more open. Coco Chanel helped create a style that could help this show more, she started at a perfect time to design what she had. Like the article says this is really how women showed their rights, so when they all started changing their fashion they started to change the worlds view on women. Now what women wore showed that their fashion focused on what they wanted, nd not what society expected of them.
Coco Chanel really showed her power in her rights with or without clothes because she never got married, but always had men around her. Her fashion really told other women what they wanted and needed, because that was her main focus. She wanted to show women that they were strong and powerful, also she wanted other people to know what is behind the art. Coco Chanel says “Crafted the most well-known style in the world because fashion is ephemeral, but style is eternal” (Manning Par 8). Women were very happy that she made all of these clothes to change he way people viewed them, Coco Chanel helped in many other ways also but not directly.
This truly is a life changing thing for the women because it helped them all gain a fair amount of confidence, and it changed them all for the better. Coco Chanel changed society in a huge way, many would agree with that because of how everyone felt after it. Women were very confident, had power, knew what they wanted and much more. Today, many people look at your fashion to see what kind of person you are; like if you wear really fashionable clothes, then you are wealthy, if you never really wear nicer clothes more egular shirts than you do not have much money.
This all started back then because when people saw that you had fashioned, and were tan, wearing Coco Chanel’s clothes, then you had money and it meant you were beauty. Showing that Chanel changed society even today, to make everything the way it is now. Women still look up to her because all of the amazing things she has showed us and how we need to be proud of what we wear. Women all around the world need to thank her because without the amount of change she made, the fashion we have now may not have been the same as it is today.
