“I like fashion to go down into the street, but I can’t accept that it should originate there.”

-Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel (1883-1971) The Chanel brand is one of the most famous of all couturier names. Reams have been written about why Coco Chanel’s designs are so classic and immortal. There’s more to this story, however, than simple tribute to an amazing talent. The truth is that Chanel herself achieved a larger-than-life standing exactly because of her life. The person behind the label captivated the public’s imagination, as seen in the recent Showtime dramatization of her life with, of all people, Shirley MacLaine, depicting the designer.

After a youth spent in an orphanage, the young Chanel worked as a dressmaker and then a café singer, where she got the nickname “Coco.” She became the mistress of a wealthy man who bred racehorses and ran with a fashionable set; he set Coco up with a millinery business. Another lover, who raced motorcycles, bankrolled her first dressmaking business in 1910. She was a success by 1912. Chanel bobbed her hair before it was the vogue and was rather shockingly known for speaking her mind. In 1919, when her designs suddenly took off world-wide, she reported “I woke up famous.” Her couture house blossomed, producing everything from masculine-styled casual togs, to the jersey suit, and her vaunted little black dress. She was also known as a tough boss who worked her seamstresses hard. She closed her business for the duration of World War II, scandalizing Paris by going off with her German officer lover. In later years, she never lost her saltiness.

She’s one of the most written about designers in our Library’s collection, with over 37 entries in the library catalog. Looking at the literature on her, I see that the most interesting works capitalize on her notoriety. A French author says it all in his book’s lengthy title: Chanel: her life, her world, and the woman behind the legend she herself created. To balance such titles out, there is the worthy exhibition on her couture mounted by the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute in 2005. And her life has been the fodder for more than nonfiction. Our Performing Arts Library holds a typescript of Coco: a musical play. An almost 400 page novel was published in 1990, and given the current state of the industry, more are sure to follow.