Gabrielle Chanel was ahead of her time in many ways. The late French designer and founder of her namesake luxury fashion house often went against society’s expectations of what women should look like through her audacious rule-breaking fashion, beauty and jewellery creations.
Her clothes prioritised comfort and freedom of movement; she popularised trousers and sailor shirts that helped liberate women from corsets. Her little black dress, a simple and sophisticated garment meant to be accessible to all was a symbol of democracy and went on to become a fashion staple known simply as LBD. She created Chanel No 5, the first perfume that showed women they could eschew the tradition
