Coco Chanel

By Sara Templeton

Not just a designer, not just big name, Coco Chanel was an icon in the fashion industry - she was passionate about clothing design and a trendsetter whose influence can still be seen today.

The French fashion guru is charged with opening up the world of haute couture - high fashion. But more than any of these accomplishments, Coco Chanel was a true leader, one who other women could look up to in times of inequality.

She was a role model for an industrially expanding world.

It was Chanel who saw past the corset and replaced it with comfortable, sexier clothing. She showed that women could wear pants and who can forget her famous parfum, Chanel No. 5?

Born in 1883 as Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel and raised in a French orphanage, the well-known designer was not in fact part of the aristocracy, as many have said in the past.

In 1912 she was helped out by a wealthy aristocrat, Arthur Capel. He injected funds into her first shopfront, which opened in 1913 - a milliners (hat shop).

It wasn't until the 1920s that she really got the ball rolling, however. It was during a time of strife - the Great Depression - that Chanel opened her now historically famous shop at 31 rue Cambon (31 Cambon Road). A few years later, around the mid 1920s, Chanel's designs grew in popularity and the word was getting around to those who could afford it.

Next came another two boutiques - one in Paris, the other in Biarritz, both combining to employ some 300 staff - not bad going for the late 1920s!

It was during this stage of her life that Coco Chanel came up with the timeless No. 5 perfume. By the early 1930s, Chanel's reputation had grown enormously and in 1931 she was paid one million dollars by Samuel Goldwin to dress the stars of many of his movies: Kathrine Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor et al. However, this didn't work out as planned as many of the movie stars refused to work with her.

By the middle of 1940, when Paris fell to the Nazis, Coco Chanel had to close her boutiques and even served as a nurse during WWII.

She later fled to Switzerland, following the lead of her lover - a Nazi officer. As a result of this, she was shunned by many and for some fifteen years lived in a state of near exile.

When she returned to her work in the 50s, things had changed. Dior had a new look - the corset. This angered Chanel and so she set out to rework much of her older designs.

Testament to her natural eye for style and grace, her designs were once again very popular and the Hollywood snobs finally embraced her range. This led to Chanel working for Hollywood and the movie industry during the '50s and '60s and opened up a whole new market - America. Sadly, in 1971, Coco Chanel died.

Karl Lagerfeld helmed the Chanel label after her death and has kept the name going by using a mix of Coco's traditional styling cues and those of more modern styles.

But despite her passing on, Coco Chanel is to this day one of the most revered women in fashion design lore.