Gabrielle Chanel was born into a poor family. Her mother died when Chanel was five her mother died and her father abandoned his children. She was taken in by an orphanage and didn't leave until she entered a convent at age seventeen.

As a young women Chanel became a cabaret singer.  It was during this time that she became romantically involved with a pair of businessmen. Having spent some time as a seamstress Chanel used the influence of her new friends to start a hat company.  Her hats were simple and in complete opposition to the trends of the day. As those hats became popular she expanded to designing clothes, again going for simplicity. She borrowed from men's styles and used their fabrics to create a style that emphasized style over the loud ostentatious trends of the day.

She became famous around the world in the 1920s, due to her styles and especially her perfume, Chanel No. 5. The war brought a change in fortunes as she became involved with a German officer. After a self-imposed exile Chanel returned to fashion in the 1950s to set right what she thought had gone wrong with the industry.  She stayed in Paris in her own suite at the Ritz until she died. As she said herself, "there was only one Chanel."