Chanel – The Business Woman

The various movies that have been recently produced about this extraordinary fashion icon and incredibly brilliant business women only touch on her great business brains.

Gabrielle Bonehur “Coco” Chanel, the French fashion designer and founder of the Chanel brand is credited along with Paul Poiret of liberating women from the constraints of the “corseted silhouette” and making a sportive, casual chic look a standard and acceptable style for post World War 1 era women.  A prolific fashion creator, Chanel extended her influence beyond couture clothing, realizing her design aesthetic in jewelry, handbags and fragrance.

The business of fashion design

I have known a few who have “made it” in New York, but she is one of the few who built an empire.  Per numerous documentaries and the latest movie releases, Chanel was known for her lifelong determination, ambition, and energy which she applied to her professional and social life.  She achieved both success as a business woman and social prominence, thanks to the connections she made through her work.   Can anyone not say “Networking 101” for women was started here!

Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman.  – Coco Chanel

In 1970 her net worth was reported worth $19 billion (equivalent to $118 billion in 2015). Chanel became one of the richest women of all time. Plus, she understood the power of how great design is influenced by everything around us.

Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening. – Coco Chanel

If you haven’t seen the movies or visited the Chanel website – take a peruse – you won’t be disappointed.