Notes

Before she changed the face of fashion with her haute couture dresses, sophisticated suits and luxury fragrances, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was a poor girl who came from humble beginnings. She borrowed money from a rich friend and started her first hat shop in Paris in 1910. Women were happy to buy her stylish hats and asked her to design clothes for them.
In 1913, Coco borrowed money to open a second shop and women from all over Europe were soon buying her clothes. Chanel’s stores were so successful that by the end of the year she had three hundred staff in her employment. Her success meant that she was able to pay back her loan and became totally and completely financially independent. The 1920s, Chanel took her thriving business to new heights. She launched her first perfume, Chanel No. 5, which was the first to feature a designer’s name. In 1925, she introduced the now legendary Chanel suit with collarless jacket and well-fitted skirt. Her designs were revolutionary for the time—borrowing elements of men’s wear and emphasizing comfort over the constraints of then-popular fashions. She helped women say good-bye to the days of corsets and other confining garments. The main risk CoCo Chanel took was that effectively, she was creating a completely new fashion trend for women and there was a chance that they weren't prepared to accept her designs and (for that era) wild fashion choices. She was fully aware that women were fed up of the clothing they were expected to wear, however there wasn't necessarily a high demand for anything new.
She defined her niche. When she began her fashion career, women were weighed down by elaborate hats that looked like wedding cakes. She recognized the time was ripe for a fashion revolution, and introduced simple designs. Then she identified and marketed to the taste-makers.
She exploited opportunities (and connections). These taste-makers became her most loyal patrons. They happened to be the stylish socially connected mistresses of her wealthy lovers and their friends. Every connection was an opportunity and she figured out how to use it.
She believed in herself. She was stubborn, cantankerous, and emphatic to a fault. These traits along with her unwavering self-confidence made everyone else to believe in her too.
She stuck to her mission. Her impeccable adherence to simplicity was revolutionary. She was determined to free women of confining corsets, and gave them clothes in which they could breathe, raise their arms, and walk in without fainting.