Coco Chanel Research Paper

Chanel childhood experiences were tough, it did not only lead her to success, but it influenced many women in the era. At home it was not easy, she lived in a very humble home, her mother worked as a laundry women at a charity hospital owned by the Sisters of Providence. While the father peddled clothes for a living, that is where Chanel began to familiarize herself with clothes. When Chanel’s mother died, her father abandoned her and left her to obtain an education at an orphanage which influenced her to pursue the fashion industry. Coco Chanel’s early education with religion, the time and period she was living in and overcoming poverty with the ability to express herself have been central to her goals and actions; she designed for her sense …show more content…
At the convent, the nuns taught Chanel how to sew, due to that she was able to obtain employment as a seamstress. There she grew ambition and motivation to aim higher and become successful within the fashion industry. Ann Gaines stated, “They also provided education, teaching their students to read, write, and perform simple calculations, instructing them in skills such as sewing, and providing them with religious training” (28). In other words, Chanel’s life at an orphanage was preferable than how she grew up with her family. She obtained a simple education at the orphanage, little did she know that was more than enough to make her successful. According to the biography of Coco Chanel, Chanel opened her first shop on Paris’s Rue Cambon in 1910, where she began selling hats. Then after was when she added clothing like dresses into her designs and the perfumes came by the 1920s. Her styles were unique that attracted many women including the wealthy. Chanel’s success would not have occurred if she had not come across the nuns who taught her how to sew. Her ambition in not wanting to live the life as a seamstress altered her motivation in