page_title: Coco Chanel
section_title: First shops
hierarchical_section_title: Coco Chanel / First shops
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Boutique Chanel Joaillerie, 18, place Vendôme, Paris
context_page_description: Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel was a French fashion designer. Coco went with the nuns and she never got adopted, so she left the orphanage when she was 18 to work at a local tailor shop. The nuns taught Coco everything she knew about sewing and making clothes. She was a founder of the House of Chanel. She was the only fashion designer to be named on TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people of the 20th century. She broke free of conventions and became a role model for some. Her behaviour during the German occupation of France in World War II led to criticism.
context_section_description: In 1913, Chanel opened her first shop in Deauville, France. Society women liked her simple wardrobe. In 1915, she opened a second shop in Biarritz.
  Chanel became one of the first women fashion designers to create simple and practical clothes for the sporty women of the era. She took the color black, which was not used in fashion at the time and showed "chic" it could be by wearing it. The material jersey was usually used to make men's underwear, but Chanel started to work with it to make women's fashion. Short hair, tans, and casual styles were the new trends. She banned corsets and other uncomfortable garments.
caption: Chanel headquarters in Paris
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