Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

Coco Chanel Fashion Designer

  • Gender: Female
  • Citizenship: France
  • Born: Aug 19, 1883
  • Died: Jan 10, 1971

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel was a French fashion designer and founder of the Chanel brand. She is the only fashion designer listed on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Along with Paul Poiret, Chanel was credited with liberating women from the constraints of the "corseted silhouette" and popularizing the acceptance of a sportive, casual chic as the feminine standard in the post-World War I era. A prolific fashion creator, Chanel's influence extended beyond couture clothing. Her design aesthetic was realized in jewelry, handbags, and fragrance. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5, has become an iconic product.

Chanel was known for her lifelong determination, ambition, and energy which she applied to her professional and social life. She achieved both success as a businesswoman and social prominence thanks to the connections she made through her work. These included many artists and craftspeople to whom she became a patron. However, Chanel's life choices generated controversy, particularly her behaviour during the German occupation of France in World War II.

I don't know why women want any of the things men have when one the things that women have is men.

Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions.

As long as you know men are like children, you know everything!

Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion of death.

There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time!

A woman has the age she deserves.

There are people who have money and people who are rich.

A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.

Nature gives you the face you have at twenty it is up to you to merit the face you have at fifty.

Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable.

The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.

A women who doesn't wear perfume has no future.

Great loves too must be endured.

Gentleness doesn't get work done unless you happen to be a hen laying eggs.

Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity.

Don't spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.