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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cocochanel350px_2008.jpg]]
2''[[caption-width-right:350:“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.”]]''
3
4Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (19 August 1883 - 10 January 1971) was a French haute couture fashion designer. Her innovative creations shaped fashion in The20thCentury and is one of the main contributors that liberated women's fashion, alongside creating the eponymous fashion brand renowned and distributed worldwide.
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6Chanel was born from a poor family, the second child of six, where her mother was laundering and her father was always "[[DisappearedDad travelling]]" around France selling goods for the family. After her mother died, she was sent to a convent, along with her sisters. At the age of twelve, she learned sewing and other things from the nuns that would inspire her late life. After working as a seamstress and moonlighting as a stage singer, she opened a hat shop in 1910 in Paris and sportswear shop in 1913 in Deauville that was immediately adored by her early patrons for her innovation. By the time UsefulNotes/WorldWarI ended, and her notoriety well-known in France, she opened her first couture house at 31 Rue Cambon in Paris in 1919.
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8TheRoaringTwenties was the era of her prime, being participative in [[TheFlapper women's liberation]] at the same time being innovative and adaptable, all the while using camellias as her FlowerMotif, [[ReallyGetsAround dating a handful of rich aristocrats]] like the exiled Grand Duke Dmitri of Russia, the Duke of Westminster, Etienne Balsan, Boy Capel, of which the latter two would have a LoveTriangle relationship, and Capel's death in 1919 devastated her and gave her motivation to kickstart her career, and a rumoured affair about Music/IgorStravinsky. In 1921, with the help of Ernest Beaux, a professional perfumer, she introduced the Parfum No. 5, alongside other parfums, makeup and skincare products made later. She also experimented in fabrics like jersey and tweed, both originally used in men's clothes, and in 1926, perfected the LittleBlackDress. Not to mention, she popularized the [[PetitePride loose silhouette]] when she borrowed a fisherman's jacket, wearing pants and cardigan, donning bobbed hair, short skirts, affordable costume jewellery, sparkly beaded dresses, and [[ButNotTooWhite tanned skin]] after vacationing in Cannes. All these things shaped TheFlapper as is, and leaves a lasting impact in fashion. By the time TheGreatDepression hit, if she was not battling with surrealist coututier UsefulNotes/ElsaSchiaparelli or famed Hollywood costumer Gilbert Adrian, she was at the height of her fame, all thanks to Hollywood patrons and actresses wearing her designs.
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10Unfortunately, by the time UsefulNotes/WorldWarII came, and the Nazis invaded France, she closed shop and secluded herself on the Ritz for the rest of the war. Accused as a [[LesCollaborateurs collaborateur]] from an affair with a Nazi agent, she was acquitted by the British and Americans[[note]]Whether or not she was a Nazi spy is still a matter of controversy; her own estate denies these claims, but Chanel was undeniably an ardent anti-semite and at least partially sympathetic towards Nazi ideology. Website/{{Wikipedia}} has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_Chanel#Activity_as_Nazi_agent more]] on the subject.[[/note]] and moved to UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}}, where she left the sewing machine for good...
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12...[[TenMinuteRetirement for about fifteen years]]. By that time, UsefulNotes/ChristianDior was at his peak, with his silhouette consisting an ultrafeminine chic of long skirts, narrow shoulders, accented busts and thin waists that was considered a big break from wartime rationing. Chanel reopened her shop with a jersey suit contrasting Dior's silhouette, [[CoolOldLady at the age of 70]]. One of the [[IconicOutfit most notable outfits]] using her silhouette was the pink jersey ensemble worn by UsefulNotes/{{Jacqueline Kennedy}}-Onassis on the day [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy her first husband]] died. While her collection wasn't well-received in Paris due to her wartime association, it was instantly (and ironically) [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff well-favored by the British and Americans]]. Her No.5 perfume also got a new shot of marketing when Creator/MarilynMonroe said that she wore the scent to bed, and ''[[SleepsInTheNude only]]'' the scent. All the while, despite the mixed reputation, and her distaste for miniskirts, she continued to run the business in TheSixties and left it running well when it emerged as a successful fashion empire even after her death through the hands of UsefulNotes/KarlLagerfeld from 1983 to 2019, and through Virginie Viard since 2019.
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14She was the only fashion designer listed among the 100 most influential people of The20thCentury according to TIME Magazine (1999).
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16[numlist:#]
17!!Tropes associated with Mademoiselle Chanel:
18* ButNotTooWhite: Promoted tanning after she vacationed in Cannes.
19* TheFlapper: The TropeCodifier along with her contemporaries like Jean Patou and Paul Poiret.
20* FlowerMotif: She had a thing for camellias, and made it her symbol for her fashion house.
21* ForeignCultureFetish: Mme. Chanel has a thing for all things Russian during the early 20s. It probably had something to do with her Russian boyfriend([[Music/IgorStravinsky s]]).
22* LittleBlackDress: The TropeMaker -- almost literally!
23* LesCollaborateurs: Accused of being one. Fortunately, the British and Americans intervened before she could lose her head.
24* MagnumOpus: Le Parfum No. 5.
25* NeverLiveItDown: Her affair with a Nazi agent.
26* NumerologicalMotif: Had a thing for the number 5, which possibly spawned her success on the fifth day of the fifth month of 1921.
27* OfCorsetHurts: Her point of view. In fact, 1920s women still wore corsets, though not as tight as the ones worn during TheEdwardianEra.
28* PimpedOutDress: Many of her creations, even the less detailed ones.
29* ReallyGetsAround: She had numerous lovers from her early career that includes the Russian Grand Duke Dmitri and the Duke of Westminster. There were even rumours that she had an affair with the composer Music/IgorStravinsky.
30* TheRival: Paul Poiret among others, and later, ElsaSchiaparelli.
31** RedOniBlueOni: The sharp and sensual blue one to Poiret's and Schiaparelli's experimental and exotic red.
32* TheRoaringTwenties: Her prime.
33* TriangRelations: Chanel, her then lover, Etienne Balsan, and his friend, Boy Capel.
34* SimpleYetOpulent
35* TenMinuteRetirement: Closed shop DuringTheWar, reopened it in 1954.%
36[/numlist]
37
38!! Media portraying Mademoiselle Chanel:
39* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o9dTCl0hkY Once Upon a Time]]'' a short film by Karl Lagerfeld starring Creator/KeiraKnightley as Chanel.
40* ''Coco Chanel et Igor Stravinsky'', a 2009 French film depicting the rumoured affair of both Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky, starring Anna Mouglalis as Chanel and Creator/MadsMikkelsen as Stravinsky.
41* ''Film/CocoBeforeChanel'': another 2009 film, Starring Creator/AudreyTautou as Chanel.
42* A 1960s eponymous musical starring Creator/KatharineHepburn as ''Coco''
43* ''Film/ChanelSoltaire'', a 1981 film featuring Creator/TimothyDalton as her lover, Boy Capel, who lent her money to open her first store. It also features Creator/RutgerHauer as Etienne Balsan as the lover she left for Capel (see ReallyGetsAround.)
44* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
45** Coco Pommel, a minor character, was named after her, although writers had to start calling her "Miss Pommel" due to Coco Chanel's company forcing a Cease and Desist on Hasbro due to the name similarities.
46** Hoity Toity, a fashion reviewer pony, was based on Mme. Chanel's successor Creator/KarlLagerfeld.
47* ''{{WebAnimation/RWBY}}'' has Coco Adel, an ActionFashionista with bobbed hair, named after her.

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