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Coco Chanel Beauty and Style Facts: Public Profile

A sourced evergreen guide to Coco Chanel, with fast facts, context and reference links.

By the Pop Culture Files editorial team4 min read✓ Fact-checked
Coco Chanel reference image
Los Angeles Times via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel ( shə-NEL; French: [ɡabʁijɛl bɔnœʁ kɔko ʃanɛl] ; 19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a French fashion designer and businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post–World War I era with popularising a sporty, casual chic as the feminine standard of style. She is the only fashion designer listed on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. A prolific fashion creator, Chanel extended her influence beyond couture clothing into jewellery, handbags, and fragrance. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5, has become an iconic product, and Chanel herself designed her famed interlocked-CC monogram, which has been in use since the 1920s. Her couture house closed in 1939, with the outbreak of World War II. Chanel stayed in France during the Nazi German occupation and collaborated with the occupiers and the Vichy puppet regime. Declassified documents revealed that she had collaborated directly with the Nazi intelligence service, the Sicherheitsdienst. One plan in late 1943 was for her to carry an SS peace overture to Churchill to end the war. Chanel began a liaison with a German diplomat/spy...

Quick facts about Coco Chanel

  • Name: Coco Chanel
  • Known for: Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel was a French fashion designer and businesswoman. The…
  • Category: beauty
  • Wikidata ID: Q45661

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