Coco Chanel Bibliography

Many women of the early 1900’s wanted to be treated fairly and equally to their male counterparts. For a long time, it was not even socially acceptable for a woman to work. As a woman’s job in society started involving be part of the work force, many

People often ask me, "When did you first become interested in Coco Chanel?" and if I'm honest, I was fascinated long before I started researching her biography more than a decade ago, all the way back to my earliest memories in childhood. For there on top of my mother's dressing table stood a bottle of Chanel No. 5, beyond my reach but not out of sight, and I knew from the moment I began to discern its mysterious letters and number that there was something magical to the black-and-white cipher. I'm not alone in that discovery -- Chanel has come to represent the essence of everywoman, whether in the scent of her perfume or her choice of bold red lipstick or the perfect little black dress -- but the story of Coco feels somehow entwined with

Due to the increasing demand in labor, employers began to disseminate traditional gender roles with the hiring of women to generally male occupations. Industry, media and the government increasingly encouraged women to fulfill their patriotic duty by seeking employment. Although pushes were made to include women in the workforce, business associations mostly worked independently from the majority, resulting in high tension when various women’s organizations pointed out the drastic discriminatory policies of employers. Interestingly

Although females had push into the right direction, they still did face some adversity. “Many fully employed women defined themseleves as ‘homemakers’, outside the sphere of wage work” (Abelson, 117). This shows that even with all these changes for the better women did not shy away from their traditional roots.

Dress reform has played an integral part of the women’s movement, health reform and political agendas. This paper will explore the time period of 1850 to 1930 in the United States of America concerning dress reform for women. It is important to explore this topic because the eighty year span marks a time of rapid change for women concerning health, leisure, independence, political and gender constraints and liberties. A description of the social forces must be discussed in order to have a distinct grasp of the reform movement. Next, the problems caused by fashion will reveal why there was a strong reform movement for dress and

The Great Depression and World War II affected Chanel’s success as most consumers could no longer afford her clothing. However, Chanel still was selling her fashions to buyers from India, Asia, South America and the Middle East as they eagerly sought her designs during the almost worldwide Depression (Inoue). Due to World War II Chanel closed all her boutiques and moved to Switzerland. Nevertheless Chanel continued to plan her return to fashion.

Women were portrayed as very conservative and traditional. Their dresses were not very revealing compared to dress of women today. In a

Women entered their chosen occupation at the bottom of the business ladder. A very small number of them became entrepreneurs; it took determination, even though they were already part of the workforce. The ones who did strive to become entrepreneurs were known as ‘go-getters’ (White, 104). ‘Go-getters’ were hard-working women who wanted a significant role in American society. Some of these women had a problem with being segregated from men in the workplace. Certain fields were then classified as a male, female, or a neutral occupation. The majority of successful women entered what could be described as neutral or predominantly female careers (White, 51). Most of the successful women had professional and vocational qualifications, having studied business administration. (See Appendix A). Women were then expected to enter one of these fields, if they were to pursue any career at

Paid work for women moved from principally customary female-situated employments to all the more non-conventional and already male-arranged vocations. Ladies ' support in the workforce prompted them to start careers in the field dominated by male in the 20th century. Career yearnings were affected by elements, such as sexual orientation, financial status, race, occupation and instruction level, and parental desires. This paper exhibits how women developed, changed and the challenges they faced in the 20th century in America in the workforce and the advancement of ladies ' careers, improvement and profession goals during the 20th century in United States. Also, gender issues affecting women will be discussed in details during this period and how women played their role in fighting for their rights.

The author of A Pair of Silk Stockings explores female roles based on what other people believe due to stereotypes. In this short story Mrs. Sommers finds $15 which is a sizable about of money to her in New York. She and her family are on the poorer side of New York. At first Mrs. Sommers has no clue on what she should do the money she had just come to. She is thinking about her children and that they could use new skirls because she had seen a beautiful new pattern in a market window, or caps for her boys and sailor-caps for her girls (Chopin 1). She thought of them due to the fact that that is what mothers and wives do in the 1800’s, they but their children and husband before thinking of themselves. She thought back to the time when she wasn’t

Chanel started as an average young French girl who ended with great success, but the steps leading up to it moved slowly. Chanel ran away with a Calvary officer when she was only 16 years old. At age 20, Chanel became a hat seller, or milliner, in Paris, with help and support from her boyfriend. In 1913, when she was 30, Chanel became a mistress of an English business man. She decided she wanted to do more than just sell hats, so she opened a boutique in Deauville.

Coco Chanel was born as Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel on August 19, 1883 in Saumur, France. Chanel was raised on a French countryside by both of her parents. Raised in a modest lifestyle, she was one of five children in her household. By the age of six years old her mother had passed away leaving her father to raise her and her siblings on his own. Not soon after Gabrielle was abandoned by her father and left at an orphanage. While living in an orphanage she learned how to sew by the nuns who raise her. As a young adult she spent many years working in a café as a singer, thus earning the name Coco. Before working as a café singer, Coco worked as a shop girl for a short period of time. By the year of 1910, Coco had opened up her first store titled Chanel Modes and was selling hats. She was able to establish her name and build a

Fast forward to Chanel’s young adult life, and you can see it wasn’t long off that she would set up shop in Paris, France in 1910, eventually expanding out to Deauville, and then Biarritz. She had started off with designing, and marketing hats which became a very successful hit amongst the fashionistas of that day. Chanel’s empire was growing exponentially, and in 1920 she expanded into the realms of couture now working in jersey which at the time was unheard of in the French fashion circle. Soon she was blurring the lines of what was acceptable, setting fashion trends instead of adhering to the routine, and was giving way to entire style genres such as the “chemise” and the “little boy” look. Her fashion statements were a gigantic contrast to what was socially acceptable, and of course Chanel fell under scrutiny over it, but she went on to create more casual, shorter, and idyllically “liberating” clothing for the day’s modern woman. In essence she was liberating women from the stuffy, confining fashions that they were used to, and giving way to a loose more relaxed style all together while maintaining it’s inherent feminine charm. Chanel was creating more than just a design, or an article of clothing, she was creating a movement that would change the way society viewed fashion in it’s entirety. (Lewis)

Women have experienced a historic situation of inequality in the social as well as professional aspects. Women were normally the ones that would take care of children, do the chores in the house, and in rural areas; they would work in the field with the rest of the family. However, today’s women have become more self-sufficient and independent from the predominant male figure within every historical family. Gender inequality in the workplace is becoming less common; yet, gender is a factor that affects men and women. Especially women have been subjected to a historical discrimination that has influenced society to decide which job is more suitable for women than men. However women have confronted and tried to break down the barriers that

In this paper the history of women in the workforce will be outlined, as well as the challenges they face. The changing attitudes towards women taking over family businesses will be looked at briefly, how women lead in comparison to how men lead, and a comparison of their leadership style will also be discussed.