“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”
Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel
(19 August, 1883－10 January, 1971)
Coco Chanel was a leading French modernist designer, whose patterns of simplicity and style revolutionized women’s clothing. She was the only designer to be listed in Time 100 most influential people of the Twentieth Century. In the 1960s, a Broadway musicalwas made about her life starring Katharine Hepburn.
It was in the 1920sthat Coco Chanel left a lasting mark on women’s fashion and design. Up until the First World War, women’s clothing had been quite restrictive and tended to involve full-length skirts which were impractical for many activities. Coco Chanel helped create women’s clothing that was simpler and more practical. She also introduced trousers and suits for women——something which had not been done before.
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＊legend[`lEdjJnd]n. 傳奇
fashion[`fASJn]n. 時尚
industry[`IndJstrI]n. 行業
modernist [`madKnIst]n. 現代主義者
designer[dI`zZInK]n. 設計師
＊simplicity[sIm`plIsJtI]n. 簡單
＊revolutionize[:rEvJ`luSJn:ZIz]v.徹底改革
influential[:Influ`EnSJl]adj. 有影響的
＊Broadway[`brOd:we]n. 百老匯
star[star]v. 主演
restrictive[rI`strIktIv]adj. 約束的
tend[tEnd]v. 走向；趨向
impractical[Im`prAktIkL]adj.不切實際的
＊trousers [`trZUzKz]n. 褲子
have to do with 和…有關係
up until 直至
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“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.”
She also created her famous Chanel No.5 scent and this has been a lasting trademark.Most sources suggest she was born in 1883, though this was a closely guarded fact——with Coco was not keen onrevealing her birth date.
Orphaned from an early age, she worked with her sister in a milliner in Deauville. Later, she opened a shop in 1912 and after a spell of nursing during the First World War founded a couture house in the Rue Cambon in Paris. It was in the post war period that she felt the need for a revolution in women’s clothes. She began by liberating women from the bondage of the corset and encouraged a casual but elegantrange of clothes.
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＊admire[Jd`mZIr]v. 欣賞
burst[bRst]v. 破裂
seam[sim]n. 縫線
＊scent[sEnt]n. 香水；香味
trademark[`tred:mark]n. 商標
source[sors]n. 消息
guarded [`qardId]adj. 小心的
reveal[rI`vil]v. 透露
＊milliner [`mIlInK]n. 女帽製造商
＊couture [ku`tUr]n. 女裝設計
liberate [`lIbJ"ret]v. 解放
＊bondage [`bandIdj]n. 束縛
＊corset [`kOrsIt]n. 束腹
range [rendj]n. 一系列
keen on 熱衷於
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In 1938, she retired from the fashion business. In 1954, Chanel said her competitive spirit was aroused because Parisian fashion had been taken over by men. “There are too many men in this business,” she told a magazine interviewer in May 1954, “and they don’t know how to make clothes for women. All this fantasticpinching and puffing. How can a woman wear a dress that she can’t lift up her arm to pick up a telephone.” She had a knack for knowing what women wanted, and women responded enthusiastically. In the 1950s, her famous Chanel suit——a collarless, braid-trimmedcardigan jacket and slim, graceful skirt——was an enormous hit. She also popularizedpea jackets and bell-bottom trousersplusmagnificentjewelryworn with sportswear. Chanel died in 1971, working to the end on a new collection.
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arouse [J`rZUz]v. 喚起
fantastic [fAn`tAstIk]adj. 古怪的；荒唐的
＊pinching [`pIntSIG]n. 收縮
＊puffing [`pVfIG]n. 腫脹
＊knack [nAk]n. 本領
enthusiastically [In:HyuzI`AstIkLI]adv. 熱心地
collarless [`kalKlIs]adj. 無領的
＊braid [bred]n. 鑲邊
trim [trIm]v. 修剪
＊cardigan [`kardIqJn]n. 羊毛衫
enormous [I`nOrmJs]adj.巨大的
magnificent [mAq`nIfJsJnt]adj. 華貴的
take over 接管
pea jacket 短厚呢大衣
bell-bottom trousers 喇叭褲
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Graphic Organizer
I. True or False:Mark T for a true statement and F for a false statement.
1.Coco Chanel considered that fashion had to combine the idea with daily life.
2.Play or movie about Coco Chanel wasn’t made until 2010.
3.The old fashion clothes’ characteristics are conservative and restrictive.
4.Chanel No.5 is another distinguished product of Coco Chanel.
5.Coco Chanel failed in making clothes but succeeded in making perfume.
II. Multiple Choice:Choose the best answer based on the reading.
1.What is the main idea of this article?
(A) It’s about how Coco Chanel got her inspiration in designing clothes.
(B) It’s a brief introduction of the fashion industry after the First World War.
(C) It tells us the fashion hits during 1920-1954.
(D) It’s a biography of the most celebrated female designer—Coco Chanel.
2.When it comes to Coco Chanel, which of the following statements is NOT true?
(A) Her design focused on elegance and luxurious.
(B) She was the only designer listed in Time 100 most influential people of
the 20th century.
(C) Before her, no designer had every tried to make trousers for women.
(D) Before the First World War, women usually wore full-length skirts.
3.What does the word “bursting” in the fourth paragraph mean?
(A) Overloading.
(B) Breaking.
(C) Linking.
(D) Sawing.
4.Which of the following clothes is not Coco Chanel’s design?
(A) Bell-bottom trousers.
(B) Pea jacket.
(C) Slim long length skirt.
(D) Graceful suit.
5. What can we infer from the passage?
(A) Coco Chanel believed that her design could make women more
attractive by showing their figure.
(B) Coco Chanel’s exact date of birth remains a mystery.
(C) Coco Chanel designed formal and extreme high-end dresses.
(D) Coco Chanel thought that male designer couldn’t make fashionable
clothes.
III. Match the Words:Fill in the blanks using the following words.
revolutionarysimplicityliberatingkeen onknack
revealedimpracticalelegantbondagepopularized
Coco Chanel lost her parents when she was young, and she did not spend childhood in a rich and environment. However, she escaped from poor circumstances by her , and she created women’s clothes. She was an inspirational person because she broke the traditional and forms of women’s clothes, and she contributed to a change in women from the of corset. Chanel created basic forms of modern fashion, and many designers had inherited the basic concept of and elegance from Chanel. After she got old, she said that fashion should be in which we live. She women’s trousers and suits which are totally different from the traditional style. She was encouraging women to go to work in offices and cutting off the hair short because it goes with the modern woman. All in all, Coco Chanel is absolutely the most influential people in the 20th century and she did make a difference of the world.
主題閱讀文章中譯：
時尚界的傳奇
嘉布麗葉‧波納——「可可」‧香奈兒（1883年8月19日到1971年1月10日）：「時尚不僅僅存在於衣服中。時尚存在於天空中、在街道上，時尚與想法、我們的生活方式及發生的事情都相關。」
可可‧香奈兒是法國首屈一指的法國設計師，她簡單時髦的風格徹底改革了女人的穿著。她是《時代雜誌》選出的二十世紀最有影響力的百大人物之中唯一的設計師。在1960年代，一齣百老匯的音樂劇就讓凱薩琳‧赫本來主演她的人生故事。
在1920年代時，可可‧香奈兒在女性時尚設計中留下了一個永恆的印記。直至第一次世界大戰，女性服裝是很約束而且傾向於穿著全長的裙子，而那在從事很多活動時是不太實用的。可可‧香奈兒讓女性的衣服變得更加簡單且實用。她也把褲子和套裝帶給女性，這是從來都沒有人做過的。「時尚變成一個笑話。這些設計師已經忘記在那些洋裝裡面還有一個女人，大部分的女人都為悅己者容而且都希望被欣賞。但她們也必須要能夠活動，要能夠在不繃開她們的縫線的情形下上車。衣服必須要有一個自然的樣子。」
她也創造了香奈兒5號香水，一款歷久不衰的商標。大多數的資料顯示她是1883年出生的，雖然這是最接近的事實，但可可並不太願意洩漏她的生日。
她在很小的時候就成為孤兒了，她和她的姊姊在特魯維的一間女帽製造廠工作。之後，在第一次世界大戰時停了一段時間去從事護理工作，她在1912年在巴黎的康邦街開了一家店。她在戰後感覺到女性的服飾需要一個革命性的改革，從束腹的束縛中解放了女性，推出了休閒又優雅的服飾。
她在1938年從時尚產業退休。在1954年時，香奈兒說她那好競爭的靈魂又被激起了，因為巴黎的時尚都是由男人所掌控著。她在1954年5月接受雜誌專訪時說：「在這個產業之中有太多男人了，而且他們不懂如何為女性做衣服。全都看起來太緊或太腫。一個女人要如何穿著一件讓她接電話時連手都舉不起來的洋裝呢？」她具有了解女性需求的本領，而且也受到女性們很熱烈的迴響。她那享有盛名的香奈兒套裝——一件無領、編織修邊的羊毛外套和合身又優雅的裙子，在1950年代造成很大的轟動。她也讓短厚呢大衣和喇叭褲以及搭配休閒服飾的華麗珠寶變得普及。香奈兒在1971年過世，而那時她仍為了新一季的產品工作著。
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