Coco Chanel

My hero is the French fashion designer Coco Chanel (born Gabrielle Chanel-Bonheur). She was born on 19th of August 1883 in Saumur, France in a poor family. She had three brothers and two sisters. When she was six, her mum died, and their dad left them alone. She lived in a French orphanage, where nuns were taking care of her.

When she was 17, she started to perform in bars. People say she was charming, but she didn`t have a singing talent. She got a stage name Coco there. In a bar she met a French millionaire Etienne Balsano and moved in with him. After a while, she started to design hats, left Etienne and moved to his apartment in Paris.

In 1913 she opened her first shop with coats and jackets. The shop wasn`t very profitable, but Coco didn`t give up. She met Etienne`s ex-best friend Boy and fell in love with him. He helped her to pay debts and opened another shop. Famous French actors started to wear her hats and she became famous. Soon, she opened her third shop in Deauwill. During the war, she was convincing women to wear the clothes they like, not the ones that men wanted them to wear. After a nine-year relationship with Boy he had a car accident and died. It was the most shocking thing in Coco`s life.

She was designing comfortable and simple clothes made of cheap and light materials. She made fashion commercial and available to every woman. Her most typical piece is a jacket. Her jackets were different than the others, her dresses were shorter and make-up was more intense. Her style represents a confident, young woman who changes things. She also made the first perfume made by a fashion designer called Chanel No. 5. It became famous very quickly.

In 1939 designers decided to close all her shops. She lived in the Ritz hotel for 30 years. In 1945 she moved to Switzerland and came back to Paris in 1954. Her new collection wasn`t very successful in Paris, because of her relationship with a German spy, but American buyers liked it very much. She died on the 10th of January 1971 in the Ritz hotel. She was buried in Switzerland. Her company was taken by Karl Lagerfeld. He still follows her style with a bit of modern guidelines. She is a hero for me, because she had a very tough childhood, but she always followed her dreams and became a successful designer. She also made fashion simpler and she gave women the right to wear whatever they want.