Top 10 amazing facts you didn't know about

Coco Chanel
London Fashion Week starts on Thursday so mark it by getting acquainted
with fashion designer extraordinaire Coco Chanel, from her humble
beginnings to her last words on her deathbed

Coco Chanel in 1936. Photograph: Everett/REX/Shutterstock

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Isabel Snchez Vegara
Wednesday 24 February 2016 08.30 GMTLast modified on Wednesday 20
September 2017 11.10 BST

1. She is known all around the world as Coco Chanel, but this wasnt her
original name. Born Gabrielle Chanel, she became Coco after being
given the nickname by soldiers in the audience while singing on stage

2. Coco Chanel became very rich and famous during her life, but her childhood
was a humble one. She was the daughter of a peasant and a street vendor and
was born in a poorhouse.

3. After her mother died, she was sent to an orphanage in a convent, where she
stayed until she was 18. It was here that Gabrielle learnt to embroider, iron
and sew.
4. Coco Chanel started her fashion career by designing hats. With the help of
one of her male admirers, she opened her first shop in Paris in 1913. As it
became more popular, she started selling clothes as well.

5. In the 1920s she introduced the Little Black Dress to fashion. Intended to be
affordable and easy-to-wear, Vogue rightly predicted that it would be worn
around the world.

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Coco Chanel with her striking hairstyle. Photograph:
EPSON/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock

6. Her influence wasnt just on clothes. At night, she appeared at the opera
house with short hair, inspiring many women to adopt the new garon
(boyish) style.

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Chanel no. 5.

7. In 1921, she created her first perfume, Chanel No 5. It was the first fragrance
to bear the name of a designer, and was accompanied by the number five
because Chanel had been told by a fortune teller that this was her lucky
number.

8. Coco Chanels revolutionary designs were elegant but also comfortable and
practical, as they freed women from wearing corsets. She also dared to shorten
skirts so that ankles could be seen!

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Coco Chanel wearing one of her designs: a three-quarter coat with cinched
waist and astrakhan lapels and cuffs, and matching astrakhan hat with large
brooch on front. Photograph: Horst P. Horst/Getty Images

9. In 1954, aged 71, Chanel reopened her fashion house after it had been closed
for 15 years during the war. She told the actress Marlene Dietrich it was
because she was dying of boredom.

10. On 10 January 1971, after returning from a walk with her friend Claude
Baillen, Coco Chanel died on her bed in the Hotel Ritz. Her last words to her
maid Celine were, You see, this is how you die.
Article from :

https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2016/feb/24/top-10-amazing-facts-you-didnt-
know-about-coco-chanel