Chanel: Gabrielle Chanel's House

From hats to fashion

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel was born in Saumur in 1883 and grew up in poverty. She acquired the nickname Coco while singing in cafés as a young woman. In 1910 she became a licensed milliner and opened a hat shop at 21 rue Cambon in Paris.

Boutiques in the seaside resorts of Deauville in 1913 and Biarritz in 1915 followed. There she sold relaxed clothes for leisure and sport, made from jersey, a soft knit then used mainly for men's underwear. By 1919 she had a full couture house at 31 rue Cambon, still the heart of Chanel today.

Her early clothes were a reaction against the corsets and heavy trimmings of the time. Chanel favoured loose, comfortable shapes, practical pockets and simple colours such as dark blue, beige and black. Many of these ideas came from menswear and sportswear, which she adapted for women who wanted to move freely.

Number five

In 1920 the perfumer Ernest Beaux presented Chanel with numbered samples for a new fragrance. She chose the fifth and kept the number as its name, saying five brought her luck. Chanel No. 5 was launched in 1921.

Its simple, almost plain rectangular bottle was a deliberate contrast to the ornate perfume bottles of the time. A century later No. 5 is still one of the best-known fragrances in the world.

The little black dress

In 1926 American Vogue published a drawing of a short, simple black Chanel dress and called it Chanel's Ford, comparing it to the Model T car because it was so simple and widely copied. Vogue predicted it would become a sort of uniform for women of taste.

Black had long been tied to mourning. Chanel helped turn it into the colour of everyday chic, and the little black dress remains a wardrobe staple.

Tweed and the 2.55

Chanel returned to fashion in 1954 after years away and introduced her collarless tweed suit with braid trim, gilt buttons and a light, easy fit. In February 1955 she launched a quilted handbag with a shoulder chain, known by its date as the 2.55.

She lived at the Ritz Paris, just across from rue Cambon, for more than thirty years and died there in January 1971. Her house still shows haute couture and ready-to-wear collections in Paris every season.

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