V

Read the text about Coco Chanel. Then, complete the table.
Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a pioneering
French fashion designer whose modernist philosophy, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit
of expensive simplicity made her an important figure in 20th-century fashion. She was the founder
of one of the most famous fashion brands, Chanel. Her extraordinary influence on fashion was
such that she was the only person in the couturier field to be named on Time 100: The Most
Important People of the Century.
Chanel was born in Saumur, France. When Coco turned eighteen, she left the orphanage, and
the ambitious young girl took off for the town of Moulins to become a cabaret singer. During this
time, Chanel performed in clubs in Vichy and Moulins where she was called "Coco." Some say
that the name comes from one of the songs she used to sing, and Chanel herself said that it was
a "shortened version of coquette, the French word for 'kept woman’.
While she failed to get steady work as a singer, it was at Moulins that she met rich, young French
textile heir Étienne Balsan, to whom she soon became an acknowledged mistress, keeping her
day job in a tailoring shop. Balsan lavished on her the beauties of "the rich life": diamonds,
dresses, and pearls. While living with Balsan, Chanel began designing hats as a hobby, which
soon became a deeper interest of hers. "After opening her eyes," as she would say, Coco left
Balsan and took over his apartment in Paris. Biographer Justine Picardie, in her 2010 study Coco
Chanel: The Legend and the Life (Harper Collins), suggests that the fashion designer's nephew
André Palasse—supposedly the only child of her sister Julie—may actually have been Chanel's
child by Balsan.
Chanel became a licensed modiste (hat maker) in 1910 and opened a boutique at
21 rue Cambon, Paris named Chanel Modes. Chanel's modiste career bloomed
once theatre actress Gabrielle Dorziat modelled her hats in the F Noziere's
play Bel Ami in 1912 (Subsequently, Dorizat modelled her hats again in Les
Modes).[8] In 1913, she established a boutique in Deauville, where she introduced
luxe casual clothes that were suitable for leisure and sport. Chanel launched her
career as fashion designer when she opened her next boutique, titled Chanel-
Biarritz, in 1915, Coco dated some of the most influential men of her time, but she
never married.

Search: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_Chanel

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 A. Complete the table. Use information from the text.

COCO CHANEL (french fashion designer)

Full Name

Born (When/Where)

Early life

His career

B. Now, write a summary using the text.

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