Named as one of the ‘100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century’ in Time Magazine, this iconic French fashion designer, who even made suntans fashionable, had plenty to say about life.
If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing.”
Coco Chanel was born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel in 1883 in a workhouse in the Loire Valley, France. Chanel’s mother was to die when she was just 12 years old leaving her father with five children to feed. Chanel, along with her two sisters, was sent to an orphanage at the Catholic monastery of Aubazine and her two brothers were sent out to work as farm laborers.
It was at the monastery that Chanel learned to be a seamstress.
Chanel was not born into the life of opulence that she was later to surround herself with, so she certainly had to do all she could to grow her wings. Fortunately, she was a woman of incredible energy and ambition and these attributes coupled with self-determination were to propel her into a life she could have only have dreamed of.
My life didn’t please me, so I created my life.”
Chanel left the orphanage when she was 18 and went to work for a local tailor. She also worked briefly as a singer in cafes and concert halls and it was here that she adopted the name of Coco.
During World War I she moved to Deauville where she met an ex-military officer and textile heir by the name of Etian Balson. She was soon to become his mistress and move in to his chateau. It was here that she started designing and creating hats.
Chanel had a life that did not please her so she did all she could to create a life of her choosing and was very successful at it. She proved that it didn’t matter where you came from in life or what your situation was, there is always an opportunity to improve your lot.
Great loves too must be endured.”
Chanel was to start a relationship and fall in love with Balsan’s friend Arthur Edward ’Boy’ Capel who was a wealthy Englishman. It was Capel who installed her into a flat in Paris and financed her first shops. The relationship lasted for 9 years. Capel went on to marry someone else and in 1919 was killed in a car accident.
Chanel was devastated when she heard the news and commissioned a roadside memorial at the site of the accident. She was later to say “His death was a terrible blow to me. In losing Capel, I lost everything. What followed was not a life of happiness, I have to say.”
In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.”
If there was one thing that Chanel excelled at it was being different and she proved this by revolutionizing the way women dressed. Gone were the thrills and corseted dresses that women of the time were used to and in came more casual sporty menswear inspired clothing.
Chanel went on to be the first designer to create a women’s jersey which was to become very popular and in 1925 launched her signature cardigan jacket. The following year she went on to design the now famous little black dress. Both items are Chanel staples even to this day.
In life, in order to be irreplaceable it is often better to create your own path rather than follow someone else’s and Chanel knew this. In the creative world it’s imperative that you are different, but this is just as valid for all walks of life.
To keep on improving and getting better one must always be open to new ideas and keep forging ahead.
How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.”
This is a great quote from Chanel and so true. When we are our true selves we live our lives on purpose and are no longer just a stereotype or part of the crowd. Chanel made sure she was a ‘someone’ not a something and went on to become a style icon herself with her boyish stature and bob haircut.
Since everything is in our heads, we had better not lose them.”
Chanel never lost her head or her cool even though she had her fair share of troubles to deal with. During World War II her love affair with a Nazi officer saw her go into self-imposed exile and move to Switzerland to avoid controversy.
She moved back to Paris in 1954 and, not one to be defeated or care what anyone else thought, expanded her signature range.
Her clothing attracted not only Hollywood movie stars such as Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly, but she also attracted the attention of the English Royal Family. Chanel No 5 was said to be Marilyn Monroe’s favorite perfume.
To me the message in this quote is to keep your cool, and think positive, regardless of what happens.
The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”
One thing Chanel did not lack was courage. She often ’thought aloud’ with her designs and this quote is reminding us that in life the bravest thing one can do is to speak our mind, regardless of what other people may think.
We need to speak our truth and be the people we were born to be instead of hiding our light under a bushel, we should stand up for what we believe in and not be afraid of expressing our thoughts.
Don’t apologize for being ahead of your time, Chanel never did.
There are people who have money and people who are rich.”
Chanel certainly knew plenty of people with money during her lifetime; she often socialized with aristocracy and the socially elite, however, because she had experienced poverty in her early years she was aware that monetary wealth did not necessarily lead to happiness.
She knew that people with lots of money were not necessarily the richest people in the world.
Being truly rich comes from a place of love and happiness, not money.
A woman has the age she deserves.”
The message here is don’t beat yourself up about a few lines here and there, our faces show who we are and where we have been. We can become more beautiful as we age and grow older because beauty also comes from within.
As long as we maintain a healthy balanced lifestyle which includes emotional health and self-love, then there is no reason why we should not age gracefully and with confidence.
Chanel was right; we do have the age we deserve. If we are happy, our natural radiance will shine through, and age won’t matter.
A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.”
One couldn’t agree more with this quote. After all, who doesn’t want to be classy and fabulous? Chanel herself was the epitome of style and glamor and even today the Chanel brand stands for class and style; there is nothing like a spray of Chanel No5 to make you feel like a million dollars.
Chanel was classy and fabulous and paved the way for many women to exude their own “fabulosity”.
You live but once; you might as well be amusing.”
Chanel was certainly amusing and she had many witty retorts. At one point in her life people thought she would end up marrying the Duke of Westminster. Later she was asked why she never did and her response was “There have been several Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Chanel.”
Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.”
Chanel learned early on that she was never going to make a career as a singer so she changed track and used the skills she had to become a designer. Instead of being defeated she turned an obstacle into an opportunity. This quote means that we shouldn’t carry on doing the same thing expecting the same results, move on, adapt, and try another way, because there always is another way.
Look for the woman in the dress. If there is no woman, there is no dress.”
This is a powerful statement and one we would all do well to remember. It’s not the dress that makes the woman, but it’s the woman that makes the dress.
This can be applied to anything we do in life; it’s all about our inner sparkle.
A beautiful woman is not the one in the best dress in the room; a beautiful woman is the one who makes the dress work for her.
You can be gorgeous at thirty, charming at forty, and irresistible for the rest of your life.”
Chanel never did marry nor have children despite having liaisons with some of the most influential men of her time. She lived a long life full of passion and on her terms.
She passed away at the age of 87 at the Hotel Ritz where she had lived for 30 years.
Her legacy as a designer lives on to this day with the little black dress still being a staple in many women’s wardrobes. She will be remembered as a woman who was determined to succeed, no matter what.
Chanel is quoted as saying “Fashion passes, style remains.” and it would appear that the style she created and the fashions she continues to inspire will remain for a long time to come.
Source: Wikipedia.org
Cover photo: www.uglytruthofv.com
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