13A- Reading reflection #1- COCO Chanel

Reading reflection #1- COCO Chanel

1.     What surprised me the most? - I think the most shocking thing about her was her childhood. Just because she ended up being such an influential icon in the fashion industry, she had a rough life. Her mother constantly followed guys and her father was a traveling merchant. She was one of five siblings of boys and girls. The genders got separate at a young age with each parent and eventually they did not see each other for years. Her mother also died when she was 11 which is tragic along with Chanel’s name was spelled wrong even on her birth certificate.

What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? - I admired her love and her pride for anything that she was capable of doing. She was the girl that enjoyed sports and was not shy to wear riding pants before this time era. She didn’t care what people thought of her along with being very understanding that at this time money was power in France. She knew she couldn’t pursue a career in horse riding that is when she knew she can still contribute to this “sport” by the fashion industry for women.

What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? - I did not care for the fact that she always had to have a man in her life to help her pursue her dreams. Even with the mystery if she was a prostitute or just being a mistress there was no other way for her to get out of the poor lifestyle which I can understand later on reading. She talks about love, but I really think in between the lines she only expressed lust when needed for power and money.

Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it? - what Gabrielle did of her failure was she was trying to achieve a career in the theaters, and she was not a great singer nor a great dancer. She went as far as getting private lessons and believed that she can get better at this talent. Until the director told her that she wasn’t cut out for this life, she knew that she was going to have a dancer’s body and work on the simplicity of the form of performance and transform this idea into clothing.

2.      What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? - She was amazing at negotiation along with persuasion. When she was a young girl, she would watch her father being a top merchant in certain locations try and barging with others to get the best deal. She defiantly learned this skill at a young age. With the persuasion she was not able to write French words so she would use the lust factor of the woman’s body to lure in men for her needs in the business sector. The most important thing is that she always had pride in everything she was capable of doing, she thought this was the most important characteristic.

3.     Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you. - What I thought was confusing when she was in her late teenage years and wondering what guy she was with at the time and where she was relocating. This time in her life was very important because it achieved two big mile stones in her life that created her legacy, so I had to reread it a few times to understand the areas and people.

4.     If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

I would ask 1. Would you ever consider doing a sports line of clothing? - my reasoning to this is she always had a passion for tailored pants and sports, and I would be fascinated to see what she would put out as a sport line edition. 2. Who was the ideal or person you were trying to be? There was a whole chapter on her identity and she never really revealed who she was trying to be, only someone better than her past. I think this would be an interesting question and it can go in many directions.

5.     For fun- Her vision of hard work from what I picked up from her book is survival. She went through a tough time and never wanted to look back. She made any buck she can starting off as a seamstress, then making clothes for herself, being a mistress, owning a hat shop, and eventually being one of the most elite fashion companies in the world. I do agree with her mind set and drive just because she wanted a change and yes, she was ashamed of her past but that was the fire that kept her going and succeed to be the best version of herself to the world.