The infamous CC logo, a French fashion icon, was created by the legendary woman Coco Chanel. Born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel in Saumur, France, in 1910, she had live some amazing 80 years of life that we still appraise her ambitious and boldness in her personal life and business venture. Between the first and the second World War , she revolutionized women’s clothing from tight corsets to comfortable suits and sleek dresses. Coco Chanel was named Woman of the Year of 1924 by TIME magazine. The stories of this successful business woman have been put on the small screen and the big screen. Her life story could be praised as inspirational but also controversial due to her connection with a German Nazi officer.
Haut Couture: Re-invented How Elite Women Dressed
Photo Credit: Chanel.com (US)
Her first shop, a millinery, started selling women’s hats designed and fabricated by Coco Chanel herself in 1910. With the success of the two boutiques of clothing in Deauville and Biarritz, she later launched her innovative designs of comfortable clothes for women who abandoned the 19-century fashionable corsets in 1925. Her designs originated mostly from men’s clothes and the sportive activities that she enjoyed. Jersey, a knit fabric, and the patch look was brought into the manufacturing of her ladies’ suits. Let’s not forget the soft leather handbag with that slim chain look. I remember the days when I worked at Galeries Lafayette in Paris, my daily routine going into work is to route by Chanel to see the window display. I still dream to have this classic white should bag one day.
The Chanel No. 5 – all time classic of perfume since the 1920s.
A few years ago, I started studying perfumery. II remember came across the training on Bleu de Chanel for men. I was fascinated by the complexity of the notes, namely top notes, middle notes, and base notes. My previous life working in drugstores gave me a lot of opportunities to smell all kinds of perfumes. As luxury as it gets, I have not owned any of them but I did get one for my father-in-law for his 80th birthday.
For Ladies: No. 5 was created by Ernst Beaux, Chanel’s nose, in 1921. The commercialization of this designer perfume was a success, due to the efforts backed by Bourjois’ Pierre Wertheimer and Galeries Lafayette’s Théophile Bader. The scent is a complex one that consists of jasmine, rose, ylang-ylang, lily of the valley, iris, neroli, sandalwood, bourbon, vanilla, vetiver, patchouli, amber. This all-time classic, still sitting on the top of the chart of bestsellers of Chanel fragrances, is a more mature audience oriented.
As for my personal favorite of Chanel’s fragrance for women, I would go for the floral and soft scent of pink Chance Eau Tendre. The delight smell comes from the mixture of jasmine, rose, hyacinth, grapefruit, quince (a tart citrus-family fruit with the appearance close to pear), iris, and musk. This is definitely a summer scent and very different from No. 5.
Other popular fragrances for women include Coco Mademoiselle, Gabrielle, Chance, Coco Chanel, Noir Chanel.
Commercial: Blue de Chanel featuring Gaspard Ulliel
For Men: Bleu de Chanel
First launched with Eau de Toilette in 2010, this scent had been portrayed by French actor Gaspard Ulliel, till his passing earlier this year. The woody yet sweet and floral scent is composed of jasmine, mint, lemon, grapefruit, patchouli, sandalwood, ginger, nutmeg, vetiver, incense, cedar, and white musk. (Blue de Chanel, Wikipedia)
Other Men’s Cologne offered by Chanel: Allure Homme, Allure Homme Sport, Platinum Egoiste, Pour Monsieur, Antaeus.
It is a known fact that Chanel herself did not create these fragrances herself as she did not have the expertise of perfumery. These amazing scents are creations of the infamous noses such as Henri Robert, Jacques Polge. Moreover, some of the haut couture are the designs of German Karl Lagerfeld, the creative director since 1983. The house of current artisan director is Virginie Viard.
Extended Readings: Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life Coco Chanel, Wikipedia CHANEL official site Best Coco Chanel Quotes About Fashion, Love, and Success, HarpersBazaar
Movie: Chanel Solitaire (1981) Coco Chanel (2008) Coco avant Chanel (2009)
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