The book I read was Coco Chanel by Lisa Chaney. I have heard the brand and name, Coco Chanel while growing up, however, I never fully looked into the entrepreneur herself.
While being able to overcome her childhood struggles of being raised in an orphanage, she was able to accomplish her goals and aspirations for her business of a fashion designer. She was able to overcome her obstacles and changed the perception of fashion.
With all of her success, it came as a surprise to find out her relationship/ ties to a Nazi military officer, in which she used to take advantage of Aryan property laws to remove her Jewish business partners Pierre and Paul Wertheimer.
Due to the Economic Depression in the 1930s, her company suffered and this strain resulted in the firing of her employees and the closing of her shops. In the mid-1940s, Coco Chanel re-opened her shops, and continued her advancements in the fashion industry. Facing scrutiny due to her affiliation to a Nazi official, she presumed to leave Paris and lived the rest of her life out in Switzerland, until her death in 1971.
Coco Chanel was very outspoken, brave, and innovative. Her clothes were a fashion and political statement to the world for women empowerment, and to break societal norms of the superiority of men over women. Although this reading was very informative, at times it lacked details about relationships she had and more about her life.
Questions:
1) How would you evaluate your success over the past years?
2) During such a sensitive time (WWII), do you believe you would have tried to go to different lengths to remove your business partners to avoid public scrutiny?
The answer to these questions would help to understand the failings and the possible solutions to fi the wrong the public saw in her decisions. It would also show if she valued her own decisions and her self-values over the opinions of others.
I believe her opinion of hard work was to do what is uncomfortable to achieve success. I believe she is a woman who stepped out of her comfort zone to achieve the success she did. Even when she had to close her shops, she could have succumbed to her failure, however, she was persistent in her efforts of continuing her success.
It was very interesting to learn all of the cool details about Coco Chanel and I honestly had no idea where she was form or anything about her background. I personally chose the biography about Steve Jobs but this one sounds very interesting as well. She sounds like she worked very hard to establish herself a an accomplished designer.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mya, for sharing your reflection on Coco Chanel, I really enjoyed reading about her. Before reading your article, I had no idea who she was and what she did. I always like learning about entrepreneur and their journey. She seemed to be very influence in her time. I like what she stood for and how she represented that in her clothing.
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