Gabrielle Chanel — The Woman

A person once told me I am obsessed with her — Gabrielle Chanel, a.k.a Coco Chanel. I replied that I was not. I do not wish to become her, but she is my role model.

About ten years ago, I stumbled on the movie Coco Chanel starring Shirley MacLaine as the older Gabrielle. I heard about Chanel (the brand) and her perfume №5, but before the film, they were a brand — a luxurious and expensive brand at that.

Watching the movie was more than inspirational. It was somewhat a revelation. Certain things in life began making sense for the very first time. I recognised her energy and the obstacles she had to face. One thing that influenced me in reading more about her life was how she wanted to do what a woman at the time could not. Yet, she went on slaying one dragon at a time, seeking refuge with individuals society disapproved of but gave her something her father never did, a safe “home”. So I started asking the question that helped me to keep going.

“If Chanel could do it, what’s my excuse?”

Chanel began building her empire during a time when a woman could not take out a bank loan under her name. She spent her childhood hearing how she needed to accept that she was born out of wedlock and would determine her identity forever. Chanel also faced choices that, for most women at the time, had an easy answer but represented something different for her because she was different.

That is why I admire her. She represents a woman who faced challenges imposed by society because she was a woman born out of wedlock, an orphan and poor. It is easy to see the woman as the owner of a luxurious brand, but that is not where she started. On the contrary, her father abandoned her in an orphanage, and she designed her life the way she wanted it to be, or almost. Gabrielle soon discovered that society still has a habit of biting back despite her efforts.

Of the books I read about her life, two that struck me most are “Sleeping with Enemy” by Hal Vaughan and “The Allure of Chanel” by Paul Morand — my all-time favourite.

Suppose you ask most French people about Chanel. In that case, their typical response is about her relationship with a German officer, Baron Hans Gunther von Dincklage, during the Paris occupation in the Second World War. Yet most do not know this started because her nephew got caught in Auschwitz for being a French soldier. She initially became acquainted with him to get her nephew (adopted son) out of the German prison, and if you ask me, other people made similar acquaintances for fewer reasons. Being a woman at that time was no easy feat. Parisians never forgave this alliance, and Chanel had to escape, which brought her closer to Von Dincklage. She closed her business during the war, yet she was still seen as a potential spy, despite being best friends and trusted greatly by Winston Churchill.

Nonetheless, the second book is the one that satisfied my curiosity about her. Paul Morand wrote Chanel’s words. “The Allure of Chanel” was not a studied biography but an interview. However, this wasn’t the first biography she tried to write. According to Chanel, there was another author to whom she spoke, but when she read it, she felt exposed and asked the author never to publish it again. Yet, the curtains fall in “The Allure of Chanel”, and I got to read her own words.

I was immediately stunned in the first chapter when she stepped down from the pedestal that most biographers put her on and walked the earth amongst the misunderstood, unaccepted and alone. Chanel made controversial, sometimes even paradoxical choices; frankly, I can’t entirely agree with some of the things she “chose” to do. But I admire her nonetheless because she led a life where she gave everything to the friends who needed her the most, despite being bitter toward others.

I don’t want to spoil the books, but I will say what I think makes Gabrielle Chanel my role model.

She grew up learning to accept that high Parisian society would not accept her, although she desperately wanted to fit in. Upon realising that her past will always determine how others see her, she built a life knowing that “what she doesn’t like has an opposite”.

Instead of trying to fit in, she embraced being different and did it on purpose. Ultimately, the same society she wanted to be a part of became the same society that wanted to dress however she says.