Gabrielle Coco Chanel was a brilliant, innovative designer who became a high fashion princess against tremendous odds. Born in a poor house, she lost her mother to illness when she was six, and almost immediately her father deserted, leaving Chanel and four siblings in the care of relatives.
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The life of Coco Chanel and the history of her jewelry and shoe lines
Gabrielle Coco Chanel was a brilliant, innovative designer who became a high fashion princess against tremendous odds.
Born in a poor house, she lost her mother to illness when she was six, and almost immediately her father deserted, leaving Chanel and four siblings in the care of relatives.
Coco Chanel was never a child of privilege, and this profoundly affected her approach to the glitzy world of haute couture, jewelry, and the expensive perfumes and beauty products that were, at the time, luxuries affordable only to the very rich.
She escaped from poverty, and acquired the name Coco, during a short career singing in cafés, where she met and became the mistress of a wealthy military officer, and then of an English industrialist.
With the help of these two men, she set up a shop in Deauville in 1910, and Paris in 1914.
She was a free spirit, an outsider with immense talent, and her clothing and perfumes easily conquered the fashion world.
Coco Collection jewelry
Chanel’s most renowned lover, the Duke of Westminster, showered her with jewelry, To the dismay of her contemporaries, Coco had it copied.
She virtually invented costume jewelry, making it accessible to many women who had never before been able to afford the expensive baubles of the very rich.
Her name and style invested costume jewelry and paste pearls with glamour that it had never before attained.
Her casual designs were simple, comfortable, and elegant, and they were worn with several rows of fake pearls.
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She popularized costume jewelry, and her creations were magnificent, made to order for her by some of the best designers in France.
Her brooches and necklaces could be worn at any time, with tweeds and sweaters and comfortable stylish dresses, unlike the real jewels worn by the very rich only with evening wear on gala occasions. Chanel started the trend toward charm bracelets and gold and bead chains.
She often combined junk and real jewelry, and accented her dresses with jeweled belts, Even the rich began to wear the costume jewelry, and many of her signed pieces are now collector's items, Although she owned some fine real gems, she often preferred elegant fakes.
Later in her career, she was still displaying and promoting masses of costume jewelry, and after she died, a casket of her gems was sold at Christie’s in London.
Afterward, at a champagne reception, distinguished guests watched a fashion show of her personal wardrobe of forty suits complemented by forty-four pieces of her (junk) jewelry.
Coco brand Shoes
- As with all of her designs, her footwear was stylish, innovative, and comfortable.
- Her name on a pair of shoes or boots conveyed prestige, taste, and style.
- She invented the sling pump as an accessory to the turtleneck sweaters and trousers that she popularized, practical attire for the more daring and active women of the time.
- She was, as always, slightly ahead of the times with her shoe and pump designs.
- Women were becoming more daring, more active, and less likely to imprison themselves in steel corsets and narrow, constricting shoes.
- Chanel’s footwear was soft, feminine, open, and fresh.
- Her shoes were designed for comfort, and her genius was the combination of comfort, simplicity, and style that she brought to her creations.
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Today, Chanel products are designed by Karl Lagerfield, but her name – and style live on.
A glance at Chanel's footwear's current specials illustrates how her shoe designs have outlived her.
Ranging from a modest $47 to $500 and upwards, her designs span the fashion stage from Spectator:
- sports shoes
- through sandals
- mules
- stilettos
- two-tone oxfords
- slingbacks
- black and tan wingtips
- flats
- Italians
- and many others
Coco Chanel was a fiery peasant woman who lived through tumultuous times and with her distinctive and innovative style changed and broadened the fashion world. Her jewelry and shoes are a large part of her legacy, and her name is still synonymous with elegant self-assured fashion.
