Rumor has it, one of Chanel’s signature songs to perform was Qui qu'a vu Coco?, and it served as the inspiration for her legendary nickname, Coco. On the side, Chanel worked as a singer in a café. Yet, it was the harshness and rigidity of Aubazine that taught Coco to defy discipline, inspiring her unwavering radical spirit.Īt 18 years old, Coco Chanel was finally freed from the constraints of Aubazine, and she began her career as a sales assistant in the Maison Grampayre shop in Moulins. The convent was run by cruel nuns dressed only in austere, black and white clothing. Following the sudden death of their mother, Jeanne Devolle, Coco and her three sisters were abandoned by their father, Henri-Albert Chanel, and placed in custody of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, in Aubazine.
As such, much of Chanel’s childhood is unknown and her real family is difficult to trace.
The neglect of her childhood began immediately, with a massive spelling error on her birth certificate that read Gabrielle Bonheur Chasnel, instead of her true, enduring surname. One day, the world would know her by the eponymous name of Coco Chanel, but the iconic fashion designer first had to survive an impoverished, grief-stricken childhood. Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel was born in a hospice in Lamur, France on August 19th, 1883.