Coco Chanel

Costume & Make-Up

19 Aug 1883

† 10 Jan 1971

Saumur, Pays de la Loire

Biography

Gabriel Bonheur Chanel (Coco) was born in 1883. When her mother died Coco was only twelve years old. Her father abandons her and her siblings in the largest orphanage of the region, a convent in Aubazine. She started working in Moulins as a shop girl with a local milliner and the age of twenty-five , she met and started living with her first love, Ettiene Balsan. Coco starts decorating simple straw and felt hats and created beautiful and unusual designs, captivating the attention and admiratio...