When Gabrielle Chanel started her business making clothes she saw a gap in the market. At the turn of the last century the world was at war, women had to work and they needed practical, comfortable, affordable, stylish clothes for this massive gender lifestyle shift. Ordinary women could not afford clothes made from the finest silks nor were they practical to wear as women were forced to undertake more masculine pursuits like working. Chanel started making clothes from cotton jersey instead, cheaper, more hard wearing but fundamentally more comfortable.
So what are the unique authentic qualities and sensibilities that have assured Chanel to endure at the top? Confidence, there are many statements credited to Chanel, none more sum up her unbreakable confidence than these Coco Chanel quotes, "I don't do fashion, I am fashion" and "In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different" and "Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening."
Austerity and purity two unlikely words start to sum it up for us. You can see her early influences growing up in a convent in the late 1800s manifest in her passion for simplicity and eye for line and form. Chanel remains one of the only independent fashion houses, almost all familiar premium couture name brands swallowed by two Trojan horses jockeying for the top profits spot, the giants that are
LVMH and
Kering, sometimes to the detriment of the design process.
It is this independence that has allowed the company to endure for a century at the top and by sticking to Chanel’s vision for the brand that bears her name, investing in small artisan producers to ensure sustainabilty for luxury and keep traditions and skills flourishing. Investing in lace makers like Sophie Hallette, backing Scottish cashmere with the purchase of Barrie in 2012, supporting handmade Desrues buttons and Lesage and Lamarie trims and silk weavers in the Loire valley, honouring her underlying distaste of greed or showing off and her commitment to her craft, has guaranteed the success today.
You can certainly draw some parallels from Gabrielle Chanel’s start in life and Shirley Yanez’s, CEO Venus Cow. Both women endured harsh reality from a young age Shirley’s mother, after six children left home when Shirley was 7, Chanel’s mother died at 33 when she was still a very young girl, and both young women were left with the responsibility for a younger sibling.
Shirley often talks about knowing from a young age she would go to the City of London where men wore hats and pinstriped suits and make her fortune. When Chanel left the confines of the orphanage at Aubazine Auberge, France at the turn of the century Paris must have felt a formidable place to conquer.
31 Rue Cambon, Paris has always been House Of Chanel
Shirley has always felt an affinity to the sensibilities of the design house, motivated to make money so she could enjoy shopping at Chanel. Coco Chanel motivated to make money to escape the confines of seamtress by day, second class music hall entertainer by night and mistress to Etienne Balsan as and when he felt like it. Despite maintaining a friendship through out her life there was never any suggestion of marriage.
You have to remember when Chanel was dressing in black and selling black as the ultimate chic when only women in mourning or in religious orders wore it. Chanel is credited with liberating women from the constraints of the "corseted silhouette" and popularizing a sporty, casual chic as the feminine standard of style, makes getting women into athleisure styling and perfect black leggings as a style staple not so daunting.
You don't need a millionaire bank account to create a Chanel west coast inspired look, athleisure style Coco Chanel herself would approve of and good enough to convince head fashion honcho Anna Wintour you made a trip to 31 Rue Cambon, Paris, France. Read our 8 on a budget tips to Chanel Style
You can certainly draw some parallels from Gabrielle Chanel’s start in life and Shirley’s. Both women endured harsh reality from a young age Shirley’s mother, after six children left home when Shirley was 7, Chanel’s mother died at 33 when she was still a very young girl, and both young women left with the responsibility for a younger sibling.
Shirley often talks about knowing from a young age she would go to the City of London where men wore hats and pinstriped suits and make her fortune. When Chanel left the confines of the orphanage at Aubage, France at the turn of the century Paris must have felt a formidable place to conquer.
Shirley has always felt an affinity to the sensibilities of the design house. You have to remember when Chanel was dressing in black and selling black as the ultimate chic only women in mourning or in religious orders wore it and
You can certainly draw some parallels from Gabrielle Chanel’s start in life and Shirley’s. Both women endured harsh reality from a young age Shirley’s mother, after six children left home when Shirley was 7, Chanel’s mother died at 33 when she was still a very young girl, and both young women left with the responsibility for a younger sibling.
Shirley often talks about knowing from a young age she would go to the City of London where men wore hats and pinstriped suits and make her fortune. When Chanel left the confines of the orphanage at Aubage, France at the turn of the century Paris must have felt a formidable place to conquer.
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Shirley has always felt an affinity to the sensibilities of the design house. You have to remember when Chanel was dressing in black and selling black as the ultimate chic only women in mourning or in religious orders wore it and