13-A Reading Reflection No. 1

Coco Chanel: An Intimate Life

Lisa Chaney 

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was a fascinating, inspirational woman who held many secrets of her life. Although she was a world famous fashion designer, many aspects of her life were hidden from the spotlight, and author Lisa Chaney did her best to expose those secrets. What was most surprising to me was that when Gabrielle was young she most likely did not speak French but instead spoke patois, which would be a regional language of the countryside. Despite her merger beginnings and hardship of portraying herself as more than a lowly country girl, she became this phenomenon in the fashion world. What I admire most about Chanel was her undying ambition and confidence in her product. For any other girl from the French countryside who grew up in a convent, and who could not even speak French, it would be nearly impossible for her to have a successful high-end fashion line. Not including the fact that Chanel used materials that were not considered luxurious including rabbit-fur and jersey. What I least admired about Chanel was how she forgot her humbled beginnings in the later years of her life. She grew to be unpleasant and superior, completely omitting her troubled childhood. Chanel encountered adversity in her early years, but used her charm and smart thinking to become one of the most recognizable fashion houses in the world. 

Chanel was very competent in the art of seduction. She had affairs with many prestigious men who she was able to fool into believing she was not from a misfortunate upbringing. She used these men for their social status and financial backing to help support her budding millinery business. Few people know that Chanel was first a hat maker under the name Gabrielle Chanel long before she become the illustrious Coco Chanel fashion designer. She was also very competent in designing for the modern woman. Her early success came from clothes that were utilitarian and comfortable, two things that women's clothes were not at the time. She was daring and brave to make a statement with her clothing, that if men could wear comfortable clothes then so could women. She had a very feminist ideal. 

The author Chaney made some aspects of the book confusing to comprehend, including the passages on Chanel's hidden memoirs. There were many anecdotal sequences between each passage that sometimes following whether the author was speaking about Chanel or one of her lovers was difficult to grasp. I think the confusion came from the fact that the authors sole purpose of this book was to expose the hidden parts of Chanel's life in a factual way, and in order to do so Chaney had to first discuss what was known, what was assumed, and what was truth. 

If I were able to ask Coco Chanel two questions, it would be

How were you able to push past all the outside noise of life to focus on your brand, especially during hard times?

If you were given the chance to start all over again, would you do anything differently knowing what you know now?

 I think Coco Chanel had a very reasonable perspective on hard work. She believed that if you wanted to try to make it, you had to go for it. But she also knew when to shut the door on a failed opportunity. When she was young and desired to be a show girl at the cafe concerts in Vichy, she stayed as long as possible auditioning to be picked up by a producer. When the summer had ended and she was still not hired, she knew it was not meant to be and went home to find another opportunity. Chanel also knew how to get work done, without working too hard. In that I mean, she surrounded herself with well-to-do men who could give her the financial backing to start her millinery venture, and when she had grown enough to produce profits, she paid back her investors. The profits she made from her millinery shop helped get her started in her clothing store. She was a very resourceful woman, who accomplished a great deal for a girl who came from nothing.