Gabrielle Chanel

Coco Chanel is the designer who first liberated women from corsets, heavy, restrictive dresses, and hats, and introduced into fashion the concept of clothing that serves a lifestyle of freedom of movement. Having entered the world of fashion from beneath it rather than in the midst of it, since she was born to peasants and raised in an orphanage, she was able to work from a perspective not steeped in the tradition of immobile, decorative women. Going from convent life to life as an assistant in a ladies' intimates store, she was able to meet Etienne Balsan, and through him enter the half-world, or demimonde, of the mistresses of the most illustrious men in Paris. There, through theatrical play and the freedom of activity that life among equestrians allowed, Chanel's style began to take shape. She began designing formally as a milliner, and when her hats were...