It is hard to imagine the fashion world without the famous Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. To this day, Chanel is perhaps one of the most influential designers in the fashion industry. Best known for her elegance, class and determination, Coco Chanel is the only fashion designer to have been listed in Time Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People. Aside from her incredible style and fashion sense, Chanel lived an extremely interesting life. Here are ten facts to know about this fashion icon.
1. “Coco’s real first name Gabriel. She got Coco from a song she performed in a musical called ‘Qui qu’a vu Coco’” (All Womens Talk).
2. When Coco was 12, her mother passed away from tuberculosis and her father left the family; she spent the next six years in an orphanage (CollegeFashion).
3. She is credited with inventing the ever-popular “Little Black Dress”(CollegeFashion).
4. She started her career as a licensed hat maker (CollegeFashion).
5. “She was a Leo and collected anything with lions” (TeaCupsandCouture).
6. “In 1938, she started dating a Nazi officer named Hans Gunther Von Dincklage” (TeaCupsandCouture).
7. It makes sense that Chanel named her most popular perfume Chanel No. 5 because her lucky number was five (All Womens Talk).
8. “The shape of the Chanel No.5 bottle was in reference to Place Vendome” (TeaCupsandCouture).
9. “Until her death, her fashion empire brought in more than $160 million per year” (TeaCupsandCouture).
10. She died in 1971 at the Ritz Hotel in Paris at the age of 88 (CollegeFashion).