‘I don’t do fashion. I am fashion’: 19 of Coco Chanel’s quotes on style, fragrances, looking good and living well to celebrate the French legend’s birthday – and her legacy with the luxury brand
Happy Birthday, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel! To mark what would have been the legendary fashion designer’s 140th birthday, we revisit some of her most iconic quotes, which still inspire us today.
Chanel was born on August 19, 1883 in Saumur, France and died at the age of 87 at the Ritz hotel in Paris.
Before establishing her namesake fashion house on Paris’ Rue Cambon, her earlier years were spent in the Aubazine Abbey orphanage and then, later on, simultaneously working as a seamstress and stage performer.
Here are 19 of Mademoiselle Chanel’s most memorable and outspoken quips on ageing to fashion and fragrances.
“Fashion changes, but style endures.”
“I don’t do fashion. I am fashion.”
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“Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman.”
“A woman with good shoes is never ugly.”
“The best colour in the whole world is the one that looks good on you.”
“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street. Fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”
“In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.”
“You can be gorgeous at 30, charming at 40, and irresistible for the rest of your life.”
“Elegance does not consist of putting on a new dress.”
“You live once; you might as well be amusing.”
“Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.”
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“A woman can be overdressed but never over elegant.”
“A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life.”
“If you’re sad, add more lipstick and attack.”
“Where should one use perfume? Wherever one wants to be kissed.”
“There is a time for work, and a time for love. That leaves no other time.”
“A woman who doesn’t wear perfume has no future.”
“I don’t understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little – if only out of politeness. And then, you never know, maybe that’s the day she has a date with destiny. And it’s best to be as pretty as possible for destiny.”
“I don’t care what you think of me. I don’t think of you at all.”
- Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, who created her own style and timeless classics such as the N°5 fragrance and two-piece tweed suit, was born on August 19, 1833 in France and would have been 140 this year
- She spent her early years at an orphanage, then worked as a seamstress and stage performer – and had plenty to say on any topic, from dressing, shoes and make-up to ageing and destiny