Coco Chanel as a successful entrepreneur and innovator

Coco Chanel as a successful entrepreneur and innovator

• Gabrielle Chanel was born on August 19, 1883 in Saumur, France. • The Chanel family did not have money, and they lived in a poor house on a narrow street. • When Gabrielle was only 12 her mother died, leaving her father with 5 children. He soon left leaving Gabrielle with 2 sisters and 2 brothers. • Gabrielle and her sisters went to an orphanage and her brothers went to a farm and became child labors. • Gabrielle stayed in the orphanage for 6 years.

She adopted the name COCO during a brief career as a café and concert singer. 1905 -1908. First a mistress of a wealthy military officer then of an English industrialist. Coco Chanel drew on the resources of these patrons in setting up a millinery shop in Paris in 1910, expanding to Deauville and Biarritz. The two men also helped her find costumers among women of society , and her simple hats became popular.

From the first shop , opened in 1912 , to the 1920 s, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel rose to become one of the premier fashion designers in Paris, France. Replacing the corset with comfort and casual elegance, her fashion themes included simple suites and dresses , women’s trouser, costume jewelry, perfume and textiels. Chanel owns 147 boutiques around the world.

PRODUCT SEGMENTATION: • SHOES • BAGS • PERGUMES • WATCHES • COSMETICS • JEWELRY • GLASSES

Soon Coco Chanel was expanding to couture, working in jersey, a first in the French fashion world. By the 1920 s, her fashion house had expanded considerably, and her chemic set a fashion trend with its ‘little boy’ look. Her relaxed fashions, short skirts, and casual look were in sharp contrast to the corset fashions popular in the previous decades. Chanel herself dressed in mannish clothes, and adapted these more comfortable fashion which other women also found liberating.

In 1922 Coco Chanel introduced a perfume. Chanel No 5. which became and remained popular, as remains a profitable product of Chanel’s company. Pierre Wertheimer became her partner in the perfume business in 1924, and perhaps also her lover. Wertheimer owned 70 % of the company: Coco Chanel received 10 % and her friend Bader 20%. The Wertheimer continue to control the perfume company today.

Coco Chanel introduced her signature cardigan jacket in 1925 and signature ‘little black dress’ in 1926. Most of her fashions had a staying power, and didn’t change much from year to year – or even generation to generation.

Coco Chanel briefly served as a nurse in World War I. Nazi occupation meant the fashion business in Paris was cut off for some years: Chanel’s affair during World War II with the Nazi officer also resulted in some years of diminished popularity and an exile of sorts to Switzerland.

SHE WAS CONFIDENT AND DIDN’T CARE WHAT PEOPLE THOUGHT. SHE WAS TALANTED AND CREATIVE. SHE MADE LOST OF DIFFERENT CLOTHES AND HATS WITH DIFFERENT FABRICS AND MATERIALS. PEOPLE FOUND THE ANSWER IN COCO CHANEL'S NEW SHOP. HER SIMPLE HATS, LOOSE JACKETS AND STRAIGHT SKIRTS WERE JUST WHAT THESE WOMEN NEEDED

In cinematography 2008 - "Coco Chanel" Italo. Franco-British television film, which premiered on September 13, 2008 on channel Lifetime Television. 2009 - "Coco Before Chanel", a French film with Audrey Tautou was released on April 22, 2009. He grossed more than $ 50 million in the United States.

• Coco Chanel died of a heart attack in her private suite at the Hotel Ritz Paris on 10 January 1971, at the ages of 87. • KARL LANGERFEL has been the chief designer of Chanel since 1983.