Gabrielle Chanel’s early life difficulties inspired Chanel to live a life not quite within constraints of popular mainstream. This philosophy was also Chanel’s design philosophy. Nicknamed Coco when she worked as a singer, Coco didn’t want to live within the constraint of long skirts, heavy dresses, padding, petticoats and corsets. Chanel’s designs removed design constraints associated with female dress of the days.
She shorted skirts and put women in suits. Women became women.
Chanel opened her first shop in Paris in 1913. A milliner by craft, Chanel’s initial designs were limited to hat and a few garments made from jersey-at a time when jersey was used only in men’s underwear and was cheap to purchase.
Chanel’s tiny Parisian shop became known as the House of Chanel. She expanded her designs to accompany a wider selection of garments, accessories and perfumes. She continued working with jersey, not because initially it was all she could afford, but because she grew to like it. She worked with jersey throughout her career and menswear continued to inspired her designs.
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