Coco Chanel: A Determined Feminist
Coco Chanel changed the standards of women in clothes and fashion. According to A Feminist Icon? The Historical Leadership of Coco Chanel, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was an orphan and started to sew at a young age. She eventually opened a hat and dress shop in Paris, which at the time and still is the capital of fashion (Sinha, 2019). She took inspiration from looking in her lover’s closet at the time. Chanel liked wearing men’s clothing, it was more comfortable and she wanted to adapt to women’s fashion. She loved the fabric and colors of men’s clothing more than women’s, so she adapted that for the clothing that she made. This revolutionized clothing at the time, remember, women had to have help putting clothing on. She led a rebellion in the 1920s after World War I, after creating looser silhouettes for women like tweed pantsuits and jersey dresses. These may have been “less flattering” to a male eye, but women could now breathe again because they weren’t wearing corsets. There were many icons throughout early Hollywood such as Merilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn who promoted the changes that Chanel was doing. There is an iconic quote from Merilyn Monroe responding to this question “Marilyn, what do you wear to bed?” she replied, “I only wear Chanel No.5.” (Sinha, 2019). After she said that, Chanel No.5 perfume sales went through the roof. Have you ever heard of the term “little black dress”? That was started by Chanel. Audrey Hepburn was seen on the cover of Breakfast at Tiffany’s in a little black dress with a cigarette and now even in 2024, it is a staple in every female’s wardrobe to have a little black dress for any occasion. Chanel, at the time, brought out a confidence in women that was not seen before. Before this, women were known for staying at home, looking after children, and staying quiet. Coco Chanel was an exceptional multicultural leader through her leadership style, power, and motivation.
Coco Chanel is a multicultural leader through her effective leadership style. According to Engleberg and Wynn (2017), The Trait Leadership Theory is described as “an approach to leadership that identifies physical, behavioral, personality, competency, and attitudinal traits that characterize successful leadership across a variety of situations.” Chanel was a “self-serving leading leader, not a servant leader” (Rolph, 2010). Her leadership style was empowering because she was a woman. She is not a perfect person by any means. She was a seductress and had many affairs. However, she was confident and decided to be different from the woman of the time. She gave women a voice during the time of women staying at home, watching the kids, and being quiet for their husband's sake. According to the Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, “ She knew how to charm and seduce, and she knew when to bully and scold” (2023). A good leader knows when to act in certain situations. In her case, she knew how to get what she wanted. This was during a time when women were not powerful and the only power they had was sex. She used it as a tactic in business and leadership. She knew herself and led women in the same way. Chanel led in a way of women being practical with fashion. She once said, “Fashion has become a joke. The designers have forgotten that there are women inside the dresses. Most women dress for men and want to be admired. But they must also be able to move, to get into a car without bursting their seams! Clothes must have a natural shape” (Lam, 2017). She saw fashion as a way not for women to be particularly seductive but also comfortable. She wanted there to be an evolution in clothes and how women were seen and treated publicly and privately (Deleuran, 2023).
Within her business, Chanel was an autocratic leader, according to a thesis titled Coco Chanel: A Transformational Leader. This thesis refers to their resource, “Women of Fashion” written by Valerie Steele during a labor strike in 1936, Chanel did not handle it most humanly. She did not agree to a pay raise, instead, she fired 300 female workers. On the bright side, she did primarily, hire females. Three months later, she increased her employees' pay rate. Although she grew up with little money, she did not lower herself to the level of their financial situation. She was an intricate woman who had many sides to her and she most likely lacked empathy due to her harsh upbringing (Rolph, 2010).
Coco Chanel is a multicultural leader through her type of power. Obviously, as a businesswoman, she leads with positional power. However, that is how she is seen as a boss. That was not common for her to be seen and certainly not now. What she did for women then and now, her power lies in personal power. It was about who she was and what she wanted to accomplish because of her character and status. Her strongest power over women is charismatic power. This solely relies on the character nature of the person. In this case, Chanel was determined to do what she wanted. She is quoted saying, “My life didn’t please me, so I created my life.” She did not like how her life started, so she made it happen herself, no how hard it would be. She was also powerful in the sense of persuasion. This is because she got women to completely change the way they dress. This is incredibly hard to do. The standards of what is expected of women are already extremely high but encouraging women to not follow them.
Coco Chanel is a multicultural leader through her motivational style. There are endless birthday cards and wall decorations with quotes that she said. If that doesn’t speak to how motivational women think she is, I don’t what is. However, I will go further into detail. First of all, she is extremely motivational to women. She made it possible for women to be different from one another. “You were born an original, do not become a copy!” said Coco Chanel (Pairfum, 2017). She empowered women not only with their attitude but with the clothing that they wore. She started taking clothes and materials from male fashion to free women from restrictive styles so they felt released from the societal trap that they were built in. She also spoke about diversity and embracing what makes you different. She is quoted, “In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different” (Pairfum, 2017). It is okay to be different from the person next to you, it is what makes you stand out from the crowd so to speak. During World War I, the issue was women needed functional clothes to work in for the men who were fighting in the war and she was the woman for the job (Rolph, 2010). She most definitely motivates women to stand up for themselves and empowers them to be themselves in every situation.
In conclusion, Coco Chanel was an exceptional multicultural leader through her types of leadership style, power, and motivation. Was Coco Chanel a perfect person? Not even close, however, I think that is what made her such a success with women. Women want to be able to relate to someone and their struggles. She understood what it was like to lose the man she loved and have a terrible childhood, that is so inspiring. She was real and true to what was expected of females and it did not seem pleasant. Finally having a female designing women’s clothes probably felt relieving for women at the time instead of men making all of the decisions in a man-ruled world. After all, Chanel said it best, “A girl should be two things: who and what she wants” (Bazaar, 2012).
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https://www.pairfum.com/coco-chanels-top-10-inspirational-quotes-for-women-of-today
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[Master’s Thesis for Arts in Leadership, Augsburg College].
https://idun.augsburg.edu/etd/912
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The world according to Coco Chanel - Harper’s bazaar. Harpar’s Bazaar. (2012, August 12). https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/fashion-news/news/a31524/the-world-according-to-coco-chanel/
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