1. COCO CHANEL
BIOGRAPHY
Coco
Chanel, byname of Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel,
(born August 19, 1883, Saumur, France—died January 10, 1971, Paris), French fashion designer who ruled over Parisian haute couture for almost six decades.
Her elegantly casual designs inspired
women of fashion to abandon the complicated, uncomfortable clothes—such as petticoats and corsets—that were prevalent in 19th-century dress. Among her now-classic innovations were the Chanel suit, the
quilted purse, costume jewelry,
and the “little black dress.”
Chanel was born into poverty in the French
countryside; her mother died, and
her father abandoned her to an
orphanage. After a brief stint as a shopgirl, Chanel worked for a few years as a café singer. She later became associated with a series of
wealthy men and in 1913, with financial assistance from one of them, Arthur
(“Boy”) Capel, opened a tiny
millinery shop in Deauville, France, where she also sold simple sportswear, such as jersey
sweaters. Within five years her original use of jersey fabric to create a “poor
girl” look had attracted the attention of influential wealthy women seeking
relief from the prevalent corseted styles. Faithful to her maxim that “luxury
must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury,” Chanel’s designs stressed simplicity and comfort and revolutionized the fashion industry. By the
late 1920s the Chanel industries were reportedly worth millions and employed more than 2,000 people, not
only in her couture house but also in a perfume laboratory, a
textile mill, and a jewelry workshop.
The financial basis of this empire was Chanel No. 5, the phenomenally successful perfume she introduced in 1922 with the help of
Ernst Beaux, one of the most-talented perfume creators in France. It has been
said that the perfume got its name
from the series of scents that Beaux created
for Chanel to sample—she chose the
fifth, a combination of jasmine and several other floral scents that was more complex
and mysterious than the single-scented perfumes then on the market. That Chanel
was the first major fashion designer to introduce a perfume and that she replaced the typical perfume packaging
with a simple and sleek bottle also added
to the scent’s success. She partnered
with businessmen Théophile Bader of the Galeries Lafayette department store and Pierre Wertheimer of the Bourjois cosmetics
company, who both agreed to help her
produce more of her fragrance and to market it in exchange for a share of the
profits. After signing a contract where in she received only 10 percent of the royalties, Chanel enacted a series of lawsuits in the
ensuing decides to regain control of her signature fragrance. Although she was
never able to renegotiate the terms of her contract to increase her royalties,
Chanel nonetheless made a considerable profit from the perfume.
Chanel closed her couture house in 1939 with
the outbreak of World War II.
Her associations with a German diplomat during the Nazi occupation tainted her
reputation, and she did not return
to fashion until 1954. That year she introduced
her highly copied suit design: a collarless, braid-trimmed cardigan jacket with
a graceful skirt. She also introduced
bell-bottomed pants and other innovations while always retaining a clean
classic look.
After
her death in 1971, Chanel’s couture house was led by a series of different
designers. This situation stabilized
in 1983 when Karl Lagerfeld became chief designer. Chanel’s shrewd
understanding of women’s fashion needs, her enterprising ambition, and the romantic aspects
of her life—her rise from rags to riches and her sensational love affairs—continued to inspire numerous
biographical books, films, and plays, including the 1970 Broadway musical Coco starring Katharine Hepburn.
2. The tenses used is Simple Past Tense. There are died, ruled,
inspired, abandoned, worked, opened, became, sold, stressed, revolutionized, imployed,
introduced, created, replaced, added, partnered, agreed, stabilized,
introduced, continued.
3. Restate to
infinitive to gerund :
a. She partnered with businessmen Théophile Bader of
the Galeries Lafayette department store and Pierre Wertheimer of the Bourjois cosmetics
company, who both agreed to help her
produce more of her fragrance and to
market it in exchange for a share of the profits.
( She partnered with businessmen Théophile Bader
of Galeries Lafayette department store and Pierre Wertheimer of the Burjois
cosmetics company, who both agreed helping
her produce more of her fragrance and marketing
it in exchange for a share of the
profits ).
b. After signing a contract where in she received
only 10 percent of the royalties, Chanel enacted a series of lawsuits in the
ensuing decides to regain control of
her signature fragrance.
( After signing a contract where in she received
only 10 percent of the royalties, Chanel enacted a series of lawsuits in the
ensuing decides regaining control of
her signature fragrance ).
c. Although she was never able to renegotiate the terms of her contract to increase her royalties,
Chanel nonetheless made a considerable profit from the perfume.
( Although she was never able renegotiating the terms of her contract
to increase her royalties, Chanel nonetheless made a considerable profit from
the parfume ).
d. Chanel’s shrewd understanding of women’s fashion needs, her
enterprising ambition, and the romantic aspects
of her life—her rise from rags to riches and her sensational love affairs—continued
to inspire numerous biographical
books, films, and plays, including the 1970 Broadway musical Coco starring Katharine Hepburn.
(Chanel’s shrewd understanding of women’s fashion needs, her
enterprising ambition, and the romantic aspects
of her life—her rise from rags to riches and her sensational love affairs—continued
inspiring numerous biographical
books, films, and plays, including the 1970 Broadway musical Coco starring Katharine Hepburn.
4 4. Personal pronoun :
a. As Subject :
- She later became associated
with a series of wealthy men and in 1913…
- It has been said that the perfume got its name from the series of scents
that Beaux created for Chanel to sample—she chose the fifth…..
b. As Object :
- She later became associated with a series of wealthy men and in
1913, with financial assistance from one of them, Arthur (“Boy”) Capel…
