Leader, role model, trend setter and icon.
Let's take a look:
&bull She asked the question, "Are couturiers furnishers or artists?" Although she was a super creative woman; she didn't place the stylist on a pedestal. To Coco a stylist was a realist. She valued the practical. Unlike some of the so called "super" models, who are treated like they are much more than what they are. Ms Chanel would have risen to the top of whatever she chose to do, a Renaissance woman.
&bull Credited with the historically significant honor of the one person who single handedly took women out of the corset. Her look was freedom personified. And although she wore pants, in a time when it just wasn't done, and she looked great.
&bull Rosie the Riveter was the look. A good looking smartly dressed woman working as a riveter in a wartime shipbuilding yard. Rosie could do whatever a man could do; but, you sure didn't think she looked masculine. Taking everyday wear Coco created a look that was immediately accepted.
&bull Coco Chanel used to mix genuine pearls with rope after rope of fake pearl necklaces. Wearing the real thing Coco was known to add a strand or two of fake pearls making it seem as though she was wearing lots and lots of genuine pearls. As she wore "opera length" pearl necklaces, the effect was stunning.
&bull In her time the giant's in jewelry - Cartier, Bulgari - commanded high prices because they used only the highest quality gold and precious stones. Rogue designer, Coco thumbed her nose at convention and charged the same price - if not higher - for her fake gems as her competitors charged for authentic ones. Who cared if the pearls were fake, she scoffed, if it was a "real" Coco Chanel design?
&bull This is why I think Coco Chanel would have loved the practicality and fabulous looks of freshwater pearl jewelry.