The Truth Of Coco Chanel, Early Life & WW2 | Makeup & History

curled my hair today so i feel really nice about that i think it looks really nice i have on this really nice headband it's so not like i feel so nice i feel so pretty so elegant classy hello beautiful people welcome to another episode of makeup and history if your new makeup and history is a series here on my channel where i put on makeup while talking about a historical event a scandal from the past or someone that i just find absolutely fascinating last week we talked about dahlia dippolito trying to kill her husband i don't have much to say about this story honestly it is it is ridiculous very entertaining you should check it out if you haven't seen it yet this week we're going to be doing a mini biography on the early life of coco chanel i honestly learned a lot while doing research for this video coco chanel was the revolutionary fashion icon she completely changed women's fashion forever she was also potentially a nazi allegedly she was allegedly a nazi let's not go too far but is a very interesting story a true rags to riches story rags to riches to racism what if you haven't already and you would like to please subscribe to my channel i'd love to have you here turn on the notification bell so that you know anytime i upload i i don't know if i'm ever going to be on a consistent schedule you guys honestly it's the adhd i've also been dealing with some personal life changes which i will do a video to update you guys on that for those of you who care to know what's been going on the past couple of weeks i'm gonna say the past week or so i've just had terrible anxiety like crazy crazy crazy anxiety i do want to apologize for the people who are looking forward to this video last week it just wasn't going to happen and i'm i just i'm going to be honest about that my anxiety has been astronomical crazy anxiety i love you guys so so much thank you so much for being patient with me all right guys let's put on some makeup and get into this story all of the products and everything that i put on my face will be listed down in the description box below for those of you who are curious and before we jump on into the story i do want to do a couple little disclaimers first disclaimer majority of the stories takes place in france so a lot of the names are french and if you guys have watched my other videos you know my pronunciation isn't always great so i would greatly appreciate anyone politely correcting my pronunciation of any of the names and words in the comments below and i also want to apologize in advance to french people my second disclaimer is it is a well-known fact that coco chanel wasn't always super honest about her childhood and upbringing so there are a lot of varying stories but i did my best to find the most truthful one i always invite people to fact check me or include any additional information in the comments below so please do that alright so for those of you who don't know who coco chanel is she was the fashion designer and style icon who founded the luxury brand we know today as chana chanel is a very high-end expensive brand it's like a very classy-esque you know type vibe at least in my opinion although today the brand represents luxury and elegance that is not where coco chanel came from she actually grew up very very poor and impoverished and kind of did some sketch things just a little a little sketch ish but no judgments okay so let's go back to the beginning we have to get our time machine and we have to travel back further than we've ever gone so buckle up i don't know how this is gonna go okay all right you guys we're here we're in 1883. 1883 that's so far back jesus christ and we're in france august 19th 1883 coco chanel is born in salmore france her real name was gabrielle bonoir chanel but her father who wasn't present at the time of her birth did not like that name so he would call her little coco now coco was supposedly one of five children but there's not a lot of record on her siblings apparently they all died before the age of 40 and they weren't really in each other's lives coco's mother eugene devel worked as a laundry woman and her father albert chanel worked as a street peddler or like a salesman he traveled a lot and really rejected any kind of family responsibilities sometimes their mother would travel with him so coco and her siblings were often with various relatives shuttling back and forth the family was very poor and the children did not go to school in 1895 when gabrielle was around 12 her mother would get sick with tuberculosis and pass away she was only 33 years old when she died coco and her siblings were very devastated at the death of their mother mainly because she was their primary caretaker but also because as i mentioned earlier their father was not really around and kind of rejected any and all responsibilities as a dad so they were fearful that he was going to split them up he didn't sound like he didn't sound like the greatest guy he was a little bit of a deadbeat later coco would describe her dad as being a very charming and charismatic man when he was around he would be very lively and tell like give a lot of empty promises i guess but their fear was right and after the death of their mother their father sent his sons to go be farmers at a farm and he sent his daughters to a orphanage run by nuns dad of the year am i right when coco's father dropped off his daughters at the orphanage he told them that he was going to come back for them but that would be the last time that coco ever seen her father apparently he moved to america to start a new life the orphanage where coco now lived was actually more of a convent so anyone could send their daughters there but it was mainly just filled with orphans and the nuns were very very strict the convents records relating to the time she spent here have disappeared it is believed chanel had them destroyed just as she would later pay her brothers and sisters to stay as far away from her as possible the girls there were not allowed any luxuries you couldn't play music unless it was church music you had the same two dresses that you had to wear every day you weren't allowed to decorate your quarters it was a very very dull place to live coco did her best to make light of her new circumstances she found an old stash of romance novels and she became obsessed with the stories many of the stories that she would read were very cinderella like a young girl who grows up in poverty who suddenly whisked away into a world of wealth and then everything is fantastic she began identifying herself with these characters and imagining her life as a life of luxury she would daydream about all the nice things she wanted to have even though currently living in the convent it was forbidden all right so coco turns 18 and it's time to leave the orphanage she moves to a different town and starts a boarding school the boarding school is also run by nuns but it's more of a place where you can learn trades and this is where she learns to sew while she was training to become a seamstress she discovered that she had a new passion the town where she now lived had a theater scene and she became enthralled with the theater coco fell in love with all the theater had to offer she loved the costumes the sets the makeup the music and she decided she wanted to be an actress she began seeking work as a performer acting singing dancing you name it coco did it this was also the time that she started referring to herself as coco because as i mentioned earlier her birth name was gabrielle so everyone called her gabrielle but when she decided to be an actress she's like i'm going to be called coco all right so coco began singing and dancing and acting and she was very charismatic but she quickly discovered that she did not have the talent necessary to be as successful as she wanted to be she was like oh dang some people are way better singers than me i don't know if it is for me after realizing that she wasn't as talented as she needed to be she decided that she needed a new path for her life many actresses of that time would often engage in polyamorous relationships with men that could provide them with a lavish lifestyle these men were known as courtesans courtesans i think correct that the women were known as cortisones not the men so the actresses would go and live with these courtesans and they would enjoy a lot of luxuries it was frowned upon by the good society because it was basically like sugar daddy sugar baby situation that's the best that's the best way i can describe it in modern terms they were sugar daddies a wealthy man by the name of etienne balsan took an interest in cocoa and asked if she wanted to come live in his house he's like hey i think you're really cute do you want to come hang out at my house i got some other girls there it'll be a good time she's like yeah sure now etienne was a trust fund baby who had inherited a fortune from his family and he lived a total life of leisure he invited coco to come live with him as a courtesan where other courtesans also lived there were many other courtesans there from all over europe some of them very famous some of them just other actresses like coco etienne chateau was located in the countryside so the residents there spent their days horseback riding and frolicking in the fields i don't know and at night they would have these lavish dinner parties now along with being very wealthy etienne was also very well connected all over europe so he had a lot of very important high class friends whenever etienne's high class friends would visit and come to one of his lavish dinner parties women like coco were not to be seen so the women who were living there had to eat in the back with the servants which is pretty rude now coco was very different from the other courtesans that lived there in many ways for one the other women were often voluptuous and curvy and coco was had more of a boyish figure she was also not considered to be conventionally pretty by the standards of that time but men were very attracted to her charm and energy she was very charismatic and she would often use her charm to seduce men away from other women she found a lot of enjoyment out of stealing men from other women and she was often successful at it coco had a deep desire to have things that weren't attainable to her probably stimming from the fact that she always wanted all of these nice things when she was a child and now that she had them she wanted other things to satisfy her coco began experimenting with her style and wearing etienne's clothing because she had more of a boyish figure she found that men's clothing fit her really well and they were more comfortable the women's clothing of that time consisted of really uncomfortable large gowns very tight and restricting corsets large hats with feathers in them none of which really ever fit coco's body type she also had a love for riding horses and the way women used to ride horses was off to the side because you had on this big dress so she wanted to wear pants so she could ride horses like the dudes did all right so coco began dressing in etienne's clothes wearing his button-up shirts his trousers she also began wearing straw hats that had bows on them and the other women at the chateau began noticing her new androgynous style they were like what is going on why don't you have a corset like the rest of us she looks like she can breathe that looks nice i wish i could breathe that's probably what they thought i don't know coco's newfound style definitely gave her a sense of power and freedom and everyone there took notice etienne loved it soon the other women there began asking coco if she could design headpieces for them especially because the headpieces that the women wore were often very heavy and difficult to put on whereas coco's new straw hats were stylish but really simple and lightweight not only were the other courtesans requesting items from coco many members of the high class were now requesting items from coco people who would visit the chateau would often see coco style and begin requesting things from her even the members of the high society who before coco wasn't even allowed to eat with or be seen amongst now they also wanted designs from coco as well all right so around 1908 coco's items were becoming increasingly more popular and in demand so etienne introduces coco to his tailor and offers his studio apartment in paris so that she could begin making clothes and selling them moving to paris would also help coco expand her clientele so she accepts etienne's offer all right so coco moves to paris and she begins dating another wealthy man this time it's an englishman by the name of arthur cappell author kappel yes now apparently author and etienne were friends and author and coco had started seeing each other while she was still living with etienne when she moved to paris then she and author became lovers i think maybe etienne was fine with it but i don't know for sure i don't know what they were doing who knows who knows what was going on back then anyway coco and author become lovers and author starts helping coco expand her clientele he begins introducing her to his wealthy english aristocat friends and a whole bunch whole heaps of people now know about coco they want coco stuff coco is hit in the jackpot with these sugar daddies cha ching if you know what i mean i'm just kidding what sydney along with helping coco expand her clientele author also suggests that coco open up a store in duvel which is a small seaside town in france where all of the rich and fashionable people spend their summers it might be pronounced doville i will put the name on the screen so you guys know what i'm talking about author offers to pay for the store in duval for coco to open up her shop and she's like okay cool if you're paying for it sure why not let's do it all right so in 1913 coco opens up her first shop in duvall and here is where she introduces her casual leisure and sports clothing for women now duvel was a beach town but the women often didn't get in the water so coco invented a swimsuit for women to be able to get in the water for a change for the first time ever they were like this is crazy we can swim in the ocean that's allowed coco's like yes yes it is she also introduced the first ever women's cardigan which was a sweater of authors that she took cut open and then added buttons and everyone went crazy they're like oh my god we gotta have one of these cardigans soon coco became an icon and everything she did was analyzed and repeated women were copying everything she did coco cut her hair short because the style suited her face better and soon every woman was walking around with the same haircut anything she wore or designed became the new fashionable trend so soon everyone was walking around like a coco clone anything she touched everyone wanted to have it by 1920 coco chanel had become one of the leading fashion designers in the entire world her designs represented a new era for women her designs represented confidence provocativeness and ever so slightly rebellious rebellion she was a rebel most of coco's designs were created with fairly inexpensive fabric she used jersey and tricot i'm not sure what tricot is but apparently it's a very inexpensive item however she was able to sell her items for a really high price mainly because really rich people wanted it coco chanel was the first designer to ever create her own fragrance chanel number five one of my favorites i love chanel number five oh so good so fresh she was the first designer to ever do this and this really took her name to the next level people went crazy for that fragrance coco realized very early on that her items were so successful because it was the image of herself that made people want it she portrayed herself as being very mysterious and unattainable and people had to have it they wanted whatever it was she had she had that mystery you know what i'm saying over the next two decades the house of chanel would reign supreme in france and all over the world coco herself was now considered a celebrity and she also had a very high status in many societies she was friends with all of the high class members all over europe one of her notably good friends was winston churchill the prime minister of england winnie church they were best buds he loved her he would always sing her praises of how much she loved coco chanel coco was also becoming a big name in the states she was offered 1 million dollars to come to hollywood and design costumes for mgm actors one million dollars in that time would have equated to 75 million dollars today 75 million dollars cocoa was a big deal she accepted the offer and flew to california to design costumes however the partnership did not end well apparently the costumes that coco designed did not translate well on screen she also hated hollywood she referred to hollywood as the capital of bad taste and went back to europe agreed agreed coco by 1935 coco chanel employed over 4 000 people she did have some competitors but overall she was still very very popular and very lucrative everything was all good and then world war ii all right so world war ii is when coco chanel's um character comes into question for sure but you know we don't know what really happened we only know what people wrote down and said that happened i don't know i wasn't there in 1939 at the start of world war ii coco would close down all of her stores stating that it was not a time for fashion now it seemed as though she was closing down the stores for humanitarian reasons however three years earlier in 1936 her employees began unionizing against her for better pay and work conditions now this was an ongoing battle between her and her employees so in 1939 when the war started she used this as an excuse to lay off all 4 000 people which is kind of kind of rude but maybe maybe she actually did just close it because because it wasn't a time for fashion i don't know four thousand people lost their jobs as a result uh it's not funny but it gets much worse gets worse by 1940 germany had invaded france and began occupying france and it seemed as though coco was cozying up to the nazis it appeared as though she was making friends with them she was friends with them allegedly let's say allegedly coco was a resident at hotel ritz which was known for housing the high ranking members of the german military aka the nazi party coco was seemingly closely affiliated with the nazi party and she would even publicly praise hitler she apparently also shared the anti-semitic beliefs of the nazi party the whole plot that jewish people were trying to take over the world i don't know but that's what she believed i guess allegedly she even worked as a spy for the nazi party in their attempt to take over madrid in 1941 during the nazi seizure of all jewish businesses coco attempted to use her aryan status to take control over the perfume company that distributed chanel number five the family that owned parfum chanel was a jewish family a man named pierre wertemare wertemire i don't know how to say that but again it'll be on screen because pierre was jewish and france was under german occupation he had no rights all jewish people at the time were stripped of their rights and they stole all of their businesses all of their wealth jewish people had no rights during this time so coco saw this as the perfect opportunity to gain full ownership over the company that distributed her fragrance she was like it's mine i want all of it little did she know pierre was already way ahead of the game apparently pierre had been warned that france was about to go under german occupation so he signed over the rights to his company to his friend a french businessman who would later sign it back over to him after the war was over now coco didn't know this but when she found out she attempted to sue pierre i'm gonna sue you now this posed a huge problem for pierre and not just because she was suing him or trying to get control over his company but because the war was ending and it wasn't looking good for germany and the nazi party so he knew that if there was a lawsuit and people found out why koko was suing him it would be bad for koko's reputation which would therefore be bad for the chanel number five franchise so he knew that if the lawsuit came out coco's reputation would be ruined and therefore the business would be ruined no one's making any more money so in 1947 pierre and coco came to a mutually agreed upon new contract now their original contract was from 1924 and i don't know what what originally her deal was or what like how they split it i'm not sure apparently she just wasn't happy with it but moving forward the new contract said that coco would receive two percent of all future sales of the chanel perfume and that would be projected to 25 million dollars a year which at the time would make her one of the richest women alive in addition to that coco requested that pierre pay all of her living expenses for her the rest of her life until she dies big or small pierre now has to foot the bill so not only does she get 25 million dollars but she doesn't have to pay for anything ever again i guess it's a little bit greedy but i mean it is her name and it was her idea i don't know i don't know it's a bit extreme to me though what do i know while we're talking about companies that supported the nazis in world war ii in case you were getting a little upset at chanel here's a small list of some of the other brands that are still alive and thriving and well today that were known nazis during world war ii allegedly allegedly first up we have hugo boss which literally designed the uniform for the nazi military hugo boss designed this they designed the suits coca-cola chase national bank volkswagen bmw porsche swarovski swarovski i don't know how to say that but you know the crystal company them too all of these companies still alive very lucrative today allegedly also nazis but i digress at the end of world war ii coco chanel's reputation was pretty much ruined it wasn't a secret that she bumped elbows with the nazis so after the war was over she was even persecuted for her involvement as a spy for the nazis apparently she went to trial and found that winston churchill saved her as i mentioned earlier winnie church really loved him some coco chanel so he got her a pardon or he got her to not be persecuted i'm not sure but she didn't get in trouble however the french public were no longer fans of her and she moved to switzerland for a self-imposed isolation oh i forgot to say this she was tried as a german spy and a traitor to the french in 1949 but winston churchill saved her okay she's in switzerland self-imposed exile and then in 1954 she tried to make a comeback at first people were not about it they're like uh-uh get that out of here we don't want it but coco did not give up she traveled to the us and began having fashion shows where she let everyone in she no longer made it like an exclusive thing so she would let all kinds of people come in she would let people come in with their seamstresses because usually they didn't let seamstresses come into the fashion shows out of fear that the seamstresses would see the designs and then remake them but coco's like no everyone come and eventually it led to her popularity again today the legacy of chanel is alive and well and thriving at least i think they're thriving i don't really know what their finances are like but they seem to be doing well this lip color is no no no not this lip color no no we're not doing that what is this ah this is scary all right you guys that is the end of this video and this story i was honestly just fascinated by the story because i didn't know all this stuff about coco chanel again i did my best to get things as accurate as possible but i'm just one girl in a room putting on makeup if i didn't get everything right please correct me down in the comments below i am open to corrections and learning more or just share any additional information that i didn't include in this video down in the comments i kind of cut it off after world war ii because i wanted to talk about the early life of coco chanel i thought this story was super fascinating because it really does show how transformative life can be she is the epitome well her brand at least now is the epitome of class and elegance and that's not where she came from at all you can really do anything and or be anything or be a nazi the story is very inspiring and troubling just like life itself if you guys enjoyed this video please be sure to give it a thumbs up it helps my channel out so so so much turn on the notification bell so that you're notified the next time i upload i love you guys so much thank you for sticking around this far into the video if you're this far in you might as well just check out some of the other videos check out some of my other videos stay hangout with me a bit longer let's be friends i'm filming this on halloween so happy halloween all right i love you guys so much thank you for watching bye

Channel: Cydnee Black

Views: 259,213

Rating: 4.9607148 out of 5

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Id: EM4RPTmUY0w

Length: 26min 38sec (1598 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 01 2020