Timeline
Coco Chanel: a life in eight dates
From an orphanage in Corrèze to the rue Cambon: follow Gabrielle Chanel's life in eight dates, in simple French, then put them back in order.
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In short
Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel (1883–1971) grew up partly in an orphanage, opened a hat shop in Paris in 1910, and changed women's fashion with simple jersey clothes, the perfume N°5 (1921) and the little black dress (1926). She closed her house in 1939 and made a comeback in 1954.
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- 1883Gabrielle Chanel naît à Saumur, dans une famille pauvre.Gabrielle Chanel is born in Saumur, into a poor family.
- 1895Après la mort de sa mère, elle grandit à l'orphelinat d'Aubazine.After her mother's death, she grows up in the Aubazine orphanage.
- 1910Elle ouvre une boutique de chapeaux au 21, rue Cambon, à Paris.She opens a hat shop at 21 rue Cambon in Paris.
- 1913Elle ouvre une boutique à Deauville et vend des vêtements en jersey.She opens a shop in Deauville and sells jersey clothes.
- 1921Elle lance le parfum N°5.She launches the perfume N°5.
- 1926Le magazine Vogue présente sa petite robe noire.Vogue magazine presents her little black dress.
- 1939Elle ferme sa maison de couture au début de la guerre.She closes her fashion house at the start of the war.
- 1954À 71 ans, elle fait son retour avec une nouvelle collection.At 71, she makes her comeback with a new collection.
Key words
| French | English |
|---|---|
| une maison de couture | a fashion house |
| lancer (un parfum) | to launch (a perfume) |
| le jersey | jersey (knitted fabric) |
| un orphelinat | an orphanage |
| faire son retour | to make a comeback |
| la petite robe noire | the little black dress |
Chanel freed women from corsets with comfortable clothes inspired by men's wear and sportswear. Her life also has dark pages: she spent the war years at the Ritz in Paris, and her relations with the occupiers remain controversial. She died at the Ritz in 1971; the house she founded still has its headquarters on the rue Cambon.
Elle a dit : « La mode se démode, le style jamais. »
She said: "Fashion goes out of fashion, style never does."
En 1954, beaucoup de critiques n'aimaient pas son retour ; le public, si.
In 1954, many critics disliked her comeback; the public loved it.