Chanel

From her first millinery shop, opened in 1912, to the 1920s, Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel rose to become one of the premier fashion designers in Paris, France.

"Coco" is the nickname frequently used by Chanel founder, Gabrielle Chanel. She adopted this during a brief career as a cafe and concert singers 1905-1908. First a mistress of a wealthy military officer then of an English industrialist, she drew on the resources of these patrons in setting up a millinery shop in Paris in 1910, expanding to Deauville and Biarritz.

She briefly served as a nurse in World War I. Nazi occupation meant the fashion business in Paris was cut off for some years. Chanel's affair during World War II with a Nazi officer also resulted in some years of diminished popularity and an exile of sorts to Switzerland. In 1954 her comeback restored her to the first ranks of haute couture.

She was still working in 1971 when she died.

The Chanel logo type is an interlocking double-C, one facing forwards the other facing backwards. This derives from the name Coco Chanel.