Dear Effendi: I don't do fashion, I AM fashion

This morning as I picked up my perfume, I thought of when Coco Chanel proclaimed that, "A Woman who deoesn't wear perfume has no future".I might have to be worried then because I usually forget. However every women does need a signature scent, like cinnamon or something fresh that can be smelt in the air...

Whatever you choose to complement your skin, your presence should be smelt before you walk in a room.. Coco Chanel's words of wisdom established a mantra for a handful of women, revolutionising the concept of femininity in the mid-20th century.

She established this mantra in one line when she proclaimed,

“I don't do fashion, I am fashion.”

Coco Chanel

French Fashion designer Gabrielle "Coco" Bonheur Chanel (1883 – 1971) embodied elegance, gracing fashion lovers with her everlasting style, as founder of the Chanel brand. Chanel was "the only fashion deisgner to appear on Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century." She has been acknowledged along with Paul Poiret, as liberators of women from the "corseted silhouette" constraints. Chanel’s influence and design aesthetic has extended beyond creating comfortable clothing for women to jewelry, handbags, and fragrances. The 1923 Chanel suit and handbag are must haves for todays generation.

The iconic fragrance, Chanel No. 5 her signature scent is the best selling fragrance globally. I once received it as a gift and gave it away immediately because it is the perfume of a sophisticated working woman, not a young girl. So when I put my lawyer pants on, you know what I'll be wearing...

Marilyn Monroe in an interview was asked, “with whom you go to bed every night?” she said: “With two drops of Chanel No. 5 ‘.

To some she is a controversial figure with her bobbed hair, financial independence, single statues, smoking, bright red lips and outspoken manner but then again most powerful women generally are regarded with some uncertainty when they don't conform to stereotypes.

Chanel rose above her humble origins of an orphan to Haute Couture designer and working throughout her life "unremittingly as both craftsman and business woman, imposing her personal conception of the art of dressing upon an ever-increasing clientele."

She tried to teach women that:

She introduced the legendary Chanel LBD, which was compared to the Ford due to its universal popularity as a MUST have fashion basic in the American Vogue during 1926. The little black dress continues to be a staple for day and evening wear, seasonally.

Since 1983 Karl Lagerfeld continues the legacy that Coco Chanel left behind of timeless designs, trademark suits, and little black dresses, that are still worn my many women and as Coco Chanel once said: "Fashion fades, only style remains the same."

Channel embodied class, with her iconic style and lifestyle reflecting her ideas of how modern women should look, act and dress,by successfully "packaging and marketing her own personal attitudes and style, as a key influence of women's taste throughout the twentieth century." I think women should insipre to embody the mantra of Chanel in that: "A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous."