Coco Chanel is, without exception, the most famous icon of fashion. Her appeal transends demographics and is the “look” almost every woman wants, whether it be the Chanel bag, or shoes, or the classic suit or Chanel perfume.

She got the name Coco singing in a bar room; her lovers included two dukes – a Grand Duke of Russia and the Duke of Westminster.images-1

Perhaps most extraordinary is that she got a second chance at age 71 when she introduced the “little black dress”. This was a statement when it was introduced after World War 1, and it was her way of giving women something less drab during the national period of mourning.  The collar and cuffs were inspired from men’s wear of the time.  The dress style came to embody a perverse connection to the garb that the nuns wore in the orphanage where she was raised and was a sad reminder of the life that she so detested as a young girl:

http://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/education/gabrielle-coco-chanel-1883-1971?utm_