Coco Chanel .... The Legend.... by Classy & Fabulous

So great is Coco Chanel's legacy that fans make pilgrimages to her Paris apartment (although she also lived in the Paris Ritz for 30 years), which is preserved as she left it and endlessly referenced for style - as is every image of her and every tiny thing she ever designed. From her use of monochrome to her oversized 'costume' pearls and cuffs, everything is still sublimely, continuously referenced. As she herself once said: "Fashion fades, only style remains the same."

 "Fashion passes, style remains." 

Gabrielle Chanel working on a model for her first collection in 1954 
1954

"'Where should one use perfume?' a young woman asked. 'Wherever one wants to be kissed,' I said." 

Gabrielle Chanel in her suite at the Ritz hotel in Paris. Published in Harper's Bazaar in 1937, this photo was chosen for the Chanel No.5 advertisement. For the first time, Chanel herself promoted her perfume.1937

"A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous." 

Gabrielle Chanel photographed by Cecil Beaton. Her dress inspired Karl Lagerfeld, who recreated it in gold lace embroidered with multicolored sequins for the Spring/Summer 1996 Haute Couture collection 

"Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman." 

Portrait of Mademoiselle Chanel by Horst 
1937

"There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time." 

Gabrielle Chanel in front of the Coromandel screens - 31 rue Cambon - Paris 

"Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman." 

Portrait of Mademoiselle Chanel by Horst 
1937

 

"I don't understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little - if only out of politeness. And then, you never know, maybe that's the day she has a date with destiny. And it's best to be as pretty as possible for destiny." 

Gabrielle Chanel and the Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovitch, nephew of the Russian csar Nicolas II of Russia 
"I don't understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little - if only out of politeness. And then, you never know, maybe that's the day she has a date with destiny. And it's best to be as pretty as possible for destiny." 

Gabrielle Chanel and the Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovitch, nephew of the Russian csar Nicolas II of Russia 1920