Coco Chanel Biography - Childhood.
Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel was born on August 19, 1883 as a second child of an unmarried couple. Her father was a small-wares peddler, her mother came from a family of a peasant. Her mother died when Chanel was twelve years old. One week later she was abandoned by her father, who left her to be raised by the nuns in a provincial orphanage.

There was no future, at that time, for a poor girl brought up by the charity. Never in her life would Coco Chanel mention her younger years spent in orphanage.

Coco Chanel Biography - Beginning of her career
At first she began as a shopkeeper specializing in linens and small wares. Later she would try to sing and dance, with an idea to make a career in the