Coco Chanel

Coco Chanel, real name Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel (1883-1971), French fashion designer and one of the leaders of haute couture (high fashion), whose name was synonymous with elegance and chic. She was born in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire. In 1914 Chanel opened a millinery shop in Paris. By the mid-1920s she had launched the classic Chanel look, consisting of a casual but extremely well-cut wool jersey suit with straight, collarless cardigan jacket and short, full-cut skirt, worn with art deco costume jewelry and a sailor hat over short hair. Her Chanel No. 5, one of several perfumes she created, became world famous. Chanel designed nothing during World War II and its aftermath, but she successfully revived the understated Chanel look in 1954. The American musical Coco (1969) by Alan Jay Lerner and André Previn is based on her life.