Coco Chanel: the woman and the myth
Posted on March 7, 2011
This year marked the 40th anniversary of his death. Despite the passage of time, his legacy lives on and his biography still remains shrouded in legends.
Trying to approach life of a woman so important, yet enigmatic as Coco Chanel has been a goal of many filmmakers, writers and theater directors. Rewrote Each, in its way, the traces of a biography that is still difficult to separate the legend and myth.
Rumors and speculation about his life are confused to the point that even his nickname is controversial. For some, "Coco" refers to an affectionate nickname because of his aunts while not lacking who says that is an apocope of "Cocotte" in French means something like "maintained".
Beyond these details, Coco Chanel (born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel in 1883) led an intense life. She was raised in an orphanage from which he emerged at age 17 with the intention of asserting his talent. From the hand of her millionaire lover, Etienne Balsan, "came" to the Parisian high society, where he learned to move with charm and ductility.
By the year 1913, opened its first store: a hat. They would be the first steps of a career that few would object later. His personal life, however, would not bring it into the center of controversy much less happy. In this sense, the darkest page was her affair with a Nazi officer, story that would pay a long exile in Switzerland.
An essential legacy
Beyond the labyrinthine paths of private life, the role of Coco Chanel in the fashion world is recognized today unanimously. His contribution to the feminine wardrobe was momentous: it interpreted in twentieth century women who went to work and needed dressing for this purpose.
Katharine Hepburn Coco impersonating a work of 1969.
Thanks to Coco, were imposed and masificaron clothes that now seem absolutely essential. Thus, suits, functional pants and white shirts became popular straight lines. He also set new standards in how colors could and wanted women also wear black or gray (colors hitherto associated only to men).
On the female profile and its undeniable merits mysterious creative, life and work of Coco soon seduce the entertainment world. In 1969, Katharine Hepburn starred in a successful play. Then, after his death in 1971, come countless movies about its history. One of the most recent is the one that was released in France in 2009, with Audrey Tatou (the same of "Amélie") in the lead role.
And while the film and literature add their own versions, more or less faithful to the life of this iconic creative legend's halo extends and consolidates.
