Coco Chanel: A feminist revolutionary?
Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel shattered the meaning of femininity. Through her progressive fashion designs and ruthless entrepreneurship, Coco Chanel could be considered an important feminist revolutionary. In this essay I define ‘feminism’ as a socio-political movement dedicated to furthering women’s rights and achieving an equal footing with men (Offen, 1988). I am going to assess her impact on feminism by exploring her personal life, professional life and legacy, and examining her relationship with lovers throughout her life in relation to the power dynamics that she precured to her advantage.
Perhaps most importantly, I will investigate how her fashion designs liberated women’s’ bodies and corresponded with increased rights for women in the 20th century. Her personal influence and huge economic success also play a role in her feminist legacy. She certainly has the most extensive legacy of any female designer, with the Chanel brand worth 15.3 billion dollars last year (Sabanoglu, 2023). Do all of these facets add up to a feminist revolutionary?
There are 35 years between the two most significant events in this essay. First-wave feminism was formally born in 1848, and Coco Chanel was born in 1883. The original feminism campaign, now known as first-wave feminism, was a movement characterised by fierce activism pushing for legal rights to work, vote and be educated (Caughie, 2010).
By the time of Coco’s birth in Saumur, France, little progress had been made for women. After witnessing her mother’s death as a young child, an impoverished Coco was raised by nuns and later described her girlhood ‘Women existed because of men’ (cited in Berryman, 2023). That said, her cold and severe upbringing certainly armed her with ruthless resilience and self-sufficiency; traits which would later prove crucial in the business world.
Coco’s chances took a fortuitous turn when she left the convent for Moulins in 1900. This relocation would prove auspicious when Coco became a local sweetheart amongst the dandy officers inhabiting the garrison town. It was here that she began a relationship with Etienne Balsan; a wealthy man with a passion for equestrianism. Meeting Balsan began for Coco a chain of ‘self-serving love affairs’ (Mullaney, 2011). It was Balsan himself who introduced Coco to Englishman Boy Capel, whose style was would prove hugely influential when she got a taste for English tailoring; her future designs would echo the fashions of the English upper class (Haye & Tobin, 2001).
Crucially, it was at this point that Coco began adopting more masculine styles of clothing from the men she was surrounded with in Capel’s house. Specifically, as her passion for horse riding grew from Capel and Balsan before him, it was in this activity that she first began to dress like her fellow male riders.
In a radical break from tradition Coco started wearing jodhpurs; a clear rejection of upper-class women’s fashion, which still catered to a sedentary life for women. As seen in Figure 1 she appropriated men’s traditional riding clothes to create her own unique, simple and practical style that altered notions of masculinity and femininity (Luckett, 2016). A further statement was made by her wearing a borrowed men’s overcoat to the races in 1907. It’s necessary to consider, though, weather this adopting of men’s clothing was a deliberate feminist act, or more likely an unconscious act of rebellion against the restrictions of her clothing as a woman- an idea that will become predominant in her future fashion designs. 
Figure two, a Chanel jacket from their latest collection designed by Virginie Viard, is an example of the lasting impact of Coco’s affinity with men’s styles. Even in 2023, 52 years after Coco’s death, Chanel designers have echoed her love of men’s riding clothes through the tweed material and relaxed shape. Crucially, the buttons on this women’s jacket are on the right-hand side like men’s clothing; a very deliberate nod to Coco’s masculine influences.
Arguably, without Capel, the Chanel empire as we know it probably wouldn’t exist. Apart from inspiring her iconic designs, Capel gave Coco Chanel the money to start her own hat-making business in Rue Cambon, Paris in 1910. From here the business grew; it was undoubtedly Capel’s investment that enabled this, although it could also be seen as tactful by her; she knew how to use a man to her advantage. Later, however, the tables would turn on her dependence on men (Picardie, 2017).
Diaghilev, Reverdy, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich and Stravinsky are just a few examples of lovers that Coco financially supported in her lifetime; many of them were artistic geniuses of avant-garde modernism. This association with modernism and the arts served to propel Coco into high Parisian society; she gleaned every possible benefit or opportunity from those around her. This unyielding and savvy opportunism is a feminist trait in my view.
This radical swap of male-female power dynamics extends beyond Coco herself. I believe it became a catalyst for shifting power dynamics for women and changed perceptions of femininity; masculine clothes and traits were becoming desirable for a woman, and in turn women were becoming empowered by this. Coco’s shocking bob haircut came in 1917, after which everyone apparently told her she looked like a little boy, much to her delight; ‘this was beginning to become a compliment, for a woman’ (Picardie, 2017). This adopting of masculinity for women is one of Coco’s significant achievements for feminism. It would soon prove totally transformative for fashion, too.
When her beloved lover Capel was killed in 1919, heartbroken Coco vowed only to wear black. But more than that, she vowed to make black chic; a symbol of strength and freedom (Picardie, 2017). Hence, born in 1926 was the little black dress.
The little black dress has an astonishing power of endurance (Liedtka, 2005). On the fashion giant ASOS’s website, the search ‘little black dress’ returns almost 2,500 results- this is almost a century after its conception by Coco Chanel. Wonderfully simple, versatile and functional, (Liedtka, 2005), it is truly timeless, and one of Coco’s most important contributions to women’s fashion and feminism. With its shorter skirt length and no need for a corset, it enabled the women who wore it to move more easily than ever before. This was an example of Coco’s ground-breaking use of jersey fabric in mainstream women’s fashion; this material allowed movement in clothes that women had never before experienced. In addition, jersey was at the time a fabric of poverty only used in men’s underwear. Coco Chanel had pioneered a ‘luxurious poverty’ and made modest fabrics desirable (Cited in Berryman, 2023). Not only could she turn gender roles on their head, but notions of wealth too. This freedom of movement also encouraged freedom of thinking, so women became more empowered; (Cited in Berryman, 2023), she freed the female body through her feminist design, allowing them to move equally to men. The little black dress was undoubtedly one of Coco’s most feminist designs, later securing a place at the heart of pop culture when worn by female icons Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Hurley; to name just a few (Hess, 2022). In the 1990s the little black dress was the epitome of minimalist chic as illustrated in Figure 4. Whilst the 90s were noteworthy for iconic modernist fashions, it also heralded in third-wave feminism, where for the first time, women felt that feminism was becoming entwined in the fabric of their lives (Snyder, 2008).
The little black dress is impressively symbolic, its journey spanning much of the history of feminism. Its launch in 1926 coincided with equal voting rights for women in the UK just two years later. It is still a favourite in 2023; a year when there is a female vicepresident of the USA and the TIME 2023 person of the year is a woman (Elsesser, 2023).
My own photoshoot (Figure 5) was created to visually demonstrate the little black dress’s enduring status and longevity in contemporary culture, and its significance for me.
The Chanel women’s suit is another example of truly feminist design by Coco Chanel. Around 1925 Coco first debuted a suit for women, as seen in Figure 6. The suit in this image illustrates perfectly Coco’s priorities for women’s clothes; to be unincumbered, comfortable and free (Picardie, 2017). Coco wanted to liberate women from the heavy, impractical clothes of the 19th century and give them a more natural shape, allowing them to move, travel and work with ease (Lam, 2017). The knee length skirt and relaxed fit of the jacket achieve this freedom of movement, and the tweed fabric is again a nod to menswear. This liberating of women’s bodies paralleled the progression of first wave feminism; especially seen in the 1920s, where Coco’s clothes coincided with the progressive modernism, the Roaring 20s and flappers.
When re-visiting the Chanel suit in 1963, a lot had changed for women. Second-wave feminism began in the early 1960s with feminists being primarily concerned with a lack equal pay in the workplace, with a clear gender privilege for men and metaphorical ‘glass ceiling’ preventing women’s advancements in their careers; the second wave also fought for female reproductive rights and abortion was finally permitted in the USA with Roe vs Wade in 1973 (Biklen et al, 2008). In 1963 Betty Freidman released the important feminist text ‘The Feminine Mystique’, fuelled by Kennedy’s establishing of ‘The President’s Commission on the Status of Women’ two years prior; feminism was finally making an impact federally. That same year in 1961 the contraceptive pill arrived in the UK (Cochrane, 2013).
The year 1963 was also notable for the Chanel women’s suit. As shown in Figure 7, Chanel’s suit was propelled onto the global stage as the outfit worn by Jackey Kennedy when her husband was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. By 1963 the Chanel suit was so eminent that its design was imitated globally, shrewdly encouraged by Coco herself. Her pink suit, and by extension all Chanel suits, became synonymous with the glamour and powerful femininity of Jackie Kennedy, and the suit’s famous blood stains came to represent stoicism in the face of violence. This Chanel suit is ‘one of the most recognisable articles of clothing ever worn’ (Horyn, 2013).
Figure 8 shows Jackie Kennedy wearing the suit during the hurried inauguration of Kennedy’s successor Lyndon Johnson. A woman, and a Chanel suit, pictured centre stage in such an important political event is revolutionarily feminist. In a political landscape dominated by men, the strong mark made by Jackie Kennedy across her career is certainly in the sentiment of second-wave feminism. For Coco Chanel, I think it’s revolutionary that she was herself a powerful woman, designing clothes for powerful women.
At the time of writing in 2023, Chanel has just come to Manchester, hosting their 2023/24 Métiers D’Art show in the Northern Quarter. Designed by Virginie Viard, the women’s suit dominated the collection. Its ever-evolving modernity seen in Figure 9 is a testament to Coco’s ingenious timeless design. The fact the latest collections are being designed by a woman shows Coco’s feminist legacy within the field of fashion; she has opened up opportunities for women in an industry usually dominated by men.
Feminism in 2023 is usually referred to as fourth-wave feminism, and receives more media attention than ever before, its formation coinciding with the rise of social media in the 2010s. This movement- which I personally align myself with- focuses on destigmatising experiences of sexual violence (e.g. the Me Too movement), social justice, trans rights, and aggressive ‘unladylikeness’ (Sternadori, 2019). The ‘unladylikeness’ Sternadori was referring to is the exposing of those responsible for social injustices, such as rape victims publicly naming their attackers. Coco Chanel set an example how feminist it can be to be ‘unladylike’ (or at least not traditionally feminine.) A whole generation of young 21st century women are embracing and celebrating their own versions of femininity, or a lack of it, thanks to Coco Chanel.
Coco Chanel’s sharp business instincts were radically feminist, and far ahead of their time. Long before the modern age of ‘influencers’, Coco contrived the influencer and used it to her advantage in marketing her brand (cited in Berryman, 2023). Nowadays ‘influencer’ usually refers to people with a large social media presence, whom companies employ to advertise on their behalf to social media audiences (Freberg et al. 2023). In fact, social media influencing is so lucrative that the industry was valued at an incredible 21.1 billion US dollars in 2023 (Dencheva 2023). Operating long before social media, Chanel utilised her own version of social influencing as advertisement for her products, most notably for her perfume Chanel N°5 which launched in 1921. Initially, instead of advertising, Coco simply prayed the perfume around public places, and provided the scent to women of the social elite, who then wore it around Paris. I would argue that this was the conception of social influencing and utterly ground-breaking. Perhaps most importantly, she used herself as an influencer; Coco Chanel was the first person to put her own name on a bottle of perfume (cited in Berryman, 2023). She ingeniously harnessed her own image as a powerful sales tool, and women everywhere wanted to be like her, so bought her clothes and perfumes. Justine Picardie declared in her book that Chanel N°5 was the key ingredient in Coco’s influencer status, with its ‘dizzying proliferation’ globally being what made Coco ‘rich and recognised around the world, so that her name became a brand, and her face as famous as her logo’ (Picardie, 2017). She used other famous faces too to promote her perfume; Marilyn Monroe famously wore Chanel N°5.
Such was Coco Chanel’s personal influence on the fashion world, feminism and the creating of the modern woman, she was named on the list of ‘The Most Important People of the Twentieth Century’ in Time magazine in 1999 (Mackrell, 2017).
Coco’s business success was huge for feminism, in the 20th century especially. She was the first female entrepreneur to make a worldwide impact with her business, thanks to her tireless work ethic and feminist garments, which ensured her place at the heart of a fashion industry totally dominated by male designers (Cattani et al. 2022). This radical breakthrough success as a woman in a male dominated industry and world, is what makes her story so truly feminist. She had no lack of fierce male fashion competitors, most notably Christian Dior in the 1950s. She set a precedent for powerful women in any industry, where previously there simply hadn’t been any woman achieving this level of business success. Whilst her personal progression was of course aided by first and second-wave feminism, I believe more that it was her own success that fuelled these feminist movements. Her freeing fashion designs aside, her sheer business success paved the way for strong women in business, which is much more common nowadays, yet of course still not common enough. Further, by employing mainly female staff at her store in Rue Cambon, Paris, she was providing employment opportunities for women in an age when work was still deemed unsuitable for women. This creating of opportunities for woman has extended long beyond her lifetime; the current creative director of Chanel is Virginie Viard- a woman. I wonder if this would have been possible, or even imaginable, without the example set by Coco Chanel. I know that I feel personally inspired and empowered by her business success.
As previously touched on, the Chanel brand has an incredible legacy. Perhaps even more impressive than her personal success is the success of her brand she created and its astonishingly long-lived legacy. The impact of her business is truly global; Chanel now has over 310 boutiques in over 70 countries worldwide in every continent on Earth (Wikipedia, 2023). Her logo symbolises more than just the Chanel brand- it is associated with quality and luxury. Such is the success of Coco Chanel’s business that Nagasawa &
Sugimoto (2017) produced the article ‘Luxury branding: the case of Chanel’ arguing that valuable lessons can be sought from the business strategies of Chanel. They praised Chanel’s distinctive brand values of comfort, elegance and functionality (established by Coco), arguing that these simple philosophies ensure Chanel’s success as they are durable enough to be re-interpreted by new minds whilst remaining distinctive (Nagasawa & Sugimoto, 2017). Hence Chanel remains one of the most recognisable brands in the world.
When embarking on research for this essay I had little more than a hunch of the huge feminist impact of Coco Chanel. Now, I have no doubt at all; Coco was unequivocally a feminist revolutionary. I have come across roadblocks in my research that made me doubt this assertion, most frequently that Coco herself never claimed to be a feminist. The key to my argument is distinguishing between feminist and feminist revolutionary; Coco may not have been outwardly feminist, but her actions and career were revolutionary for the feminist movement. Indeed, she may not have recognised her own feminist beliefs. She said herself that ‘a woman needs independence from men’ (Picardie, 2017). This recurring sentiment of hers seems feminist to me, whether or not she identified it as such. Others have claimed that Coco was reliant on men to start her business; I disagree, as one of her strengths was using relationships to her advantage. She knowingly turned these men’s fascination with her into business success. She was a sharp opportunist.
Coco’s economic influence may extend even further than the Chanel brand. By capitalising off her own name and image, she invented the concept of social influence in brand marketing- now a multi-billion-dollar industry and a key element in modern brand strategy across the globe. In business, she was a true innovator. In fashion her innovation is unparalleled. Through classic designs like the little black dress and women’s suit she single-handedly freed women from the constraints of traditional clothing. Her influence is felt today in everything we wear. As I am writing this, I am wearing comfortable trousers and a jumper that allows me to move with ease. This is largely thanks to Coco Chanel, as is so much of what we wear in the 21st century. By freeing women’s bodies for the first time in history, she freed their minds from patriarchal constraints. She transformed women. She made masculinity accessible. The ‘ultimate style icon’ (Davis, 2022), she was also a ground-breaking feminist revolutionary.
Bibliography
Biklen, S et al. (2008) ‘Experiencing second-wave feminism in the USA’, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 29(4), pp. 451.
Bruzzi, S & Gibson, P. (2000) Fashion Cultures: Theories, Explorations and Analysis. New York: Routledge.
Cattani, G; Colcci, M & Ferriani, S. (2022) ‘From the Margins to the Core of Haute Couture: The Entrepreneurial Journey of Coco Chanel’, Enterprise & Society, 24(2.), pp. 546-588.
Caughie, P. (2010) ‘Introduction: theorising the ‘first wave’ globally’, Feminist Review, 95, pp. 5-9.
Cochrane, K. (2013) ‘1963: the beginning of the feminist movement’, The Guardian.
[Online] 7 May 2013. [Accessed on 28 December 2023]
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/may/07/1963-beginning-feministmovement
Coco Chanel Unbuttoned. (2023) [Online] Berryman, H. BBC. [Accessed on 10 October 2023.]
Davis, M. (2022) Chanel: Style Icon. London: Hardie Grant Books.
Dencheva, V. (2023) Influencer marketing market size worldwide from 2016 to 2023. [Online] [Accessed on 13 Jan 2023] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1092819/globalinfluencer-market-size/
Elsesser, K. (2023) 27 Historic firsts for women in 2023. [Online] [Accessed on 6 January 2024.] https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2023/12/13/27-historic-firstsfor-women-in-2023/
Freberg, K; Golan, G & Smith, B. (2023) ‘Influencer relations: Establishing the concept and process for public relations’, Public Relations Review, 49(102305.), pp. 1-2.
Groeneveld, E. (2009) ‘Be a feminist or just dress like one’, BUST, fashion and feminism as a lifestyle, Journal of Gender Studies, 18(2), pp. 79-88.
Haye, A & Tobin, S. (2001) Chanel: The Couturiere at Work. London: V&A Publications.
Hess, M. (2022) The Little Black Dress. London: Hardie Grant Books.
Horyn, C. (2013) ‘A first lady’s historic suit, preserved and out of view’, International New York Times. [Online] 16 September 2013. [Accessed on 30 December 2023] https://go-gale-
com.mmu.idm.oclc.org/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&u=mmucal5&id=GALE%7CA349193097&v=2 .1&it=r&sid=oclc&aty=ip
Lam, G. C. Y. (2017) ‘Coco Chanel Said…’, Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture, 21, pp. 169-174.
Leidtka, J. (2005) ‘A little black magic.(innovations of Coco Chanel), Across the Board, 42(4.)
Luckett, M. (2016) ‘Reviewed Work: Sex and Unisex: Fashion, Feminism, and the Sexual Revolution by Jo B. Paoletti’, The Journal of American History, 103(1), pp. 276.
Mackrell, A. (2017) ‘Megan Hess, Coco Chanel. The Illustrated World of a Fashion Icon’, Costume, 51.(1.), pp. 139.
Mullaney, M. (2011) ‘Book Review: Chaney, Lisa. Coco Chanel: An Intimate Life’, Library Journal, 136(16.), pp. 84.
Nagasawa, S & Sugimoto, K. (2017) ‘Luxury branding: the case of Chanel’, International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, 9(3.), pp. 292-301.
Offen, K. (1988) ‘Defining Feminism: A Comparative Historical Approach’, Signs, 14(1.), pp. 119-157.
Parkins, I. (2019) ‘Introduction: Fashion and Feminist Politics of the Present’, Australian Feminist Studies, 33(98), pp. 423-427.
Picardie, J. (2017) Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life. London: Harper Collins.
Sabanoglu, T. (2023) Brand value of Chanel worldwide from 2017 to 2022. [Online] [Accessed on 11 November 2023] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1010860/chanelbrand-value-worldwide/
Snyder, C. (2008) ‘What Is Third-Wave Feminism? A New Directions Essay’, Signs, 34(1), pp. 2-3.
Sternadori, M. (2019) ‘Situating the Fourth Wave of feminism in popular media discourses’, in Misogyny and Media in the Age of Trump. pp.31-55.
Wikipedia. (2023) Chanel: Corporate identity. [Online] [Accessed on 14 January 2024] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanel#:~:text=Worldwide%2C%20Chanel%20S.A.%20op erates%20around,America%2C%20and%206%20in%20Oceania.
List of Figures
Figure 1: Chanel with her lover Boy Capel wearing jodhpurs. Classic Chicago Magazine, Coco Chanel- Chic Simplicity [Online] [Accessed on 21 October 2023] https://classicchicagomagazine.com/coco-chanel-chic-simplicity/
Figure 2: Women’s Chanel jacket, 2023. Author’s own photograph.
Figure 3: Illustration of little black dress in Vogue, 1926. Vogue, A definitive list of LBDs to wear when this is all over [Online] [Accessed on 10 November 2023] https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/gallery/aw21-little-black-dress-trend
Figure 4: Jenifer Aniston wearing a little black dress in 1997.Business Insider, 34 photos that show how Jennifer Aniston’s style has evolved over the years [Online] [Accessed on 11 November 2023] https://www.businessinsider.com/jennifer-aniston-style-evolution-2017-4?r=US&IR=T
Figure 5: My own photos my friends and myself wearing a little black dress, 2024. Author’s own photographs.
Figure 6: Coco Chanel in her women’s suit circa 1920s. CR Fashion Book, The history of the Chanel tweed suit [Online] [Accessed on 15 November 2023] https://crfashionbook.com/fashion-a26551426-history-of-chanel-tweedsuit/
Figure 7: President Kennedy with First Lady Jackie Kennedy wearing a Chanel suit on 22nd November 1963. L’Officiel, The fascinating history behind Jackie Kennedy’s pink suit [Online] [Accessed on 20 December 2023] https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/history-behind-jackiekennedy-pink-suit-chanel-jfk
Figure 8: Jackie Kennedy wearing a Chanel suit during the inauguration of President Johnson on the day of the assassination. Wikipedia, First inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson [Online] [Accessed on 27 December 2023] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_inauguration_of_Lyndon_B._Johnson
Figure 9: Looks 2, 3 and 5 in the 2023 Chanel Métiers D’Art show in Manchester. Chanel, 2023/24 Métiers D’Art [Online] [Accessed on 3 January 2024] https://www.chanel.com/gb/fashion/2023-24-metiers-dart/l/FshCollection24A/the-looks/
© Nik Macey 2023