Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (19 August 1883 - 10 January 1971) was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist philosophy, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her an important figure in 20th-century fashion. She was the founder of the famous fashion brand Chanel. Her extraordinary influence on haute couture was such that she was the only person in the field to be named on TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

The Chanel company has had many high-profile celebrities as spokesmodels, including Catherine Deneuve (1970s Chanel No.5 spokesmodel), Nicole Kidman (early 2000s Chanel No. 5 spokesmodel), Audrey Tautou (current Chanel No.5 spokesmodel), and most famously, Marilyn Monroe (1950s Chanel No. 5 spokesmodel) pictured splashing herself with a bottle of Chanel No. 5.

You can see some examples of Coco Chanel's innovative ideas via the following videoclip:

Source for videoclip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3uoMKlSqS4
Sources for this text: About.com http://womenshistory.about.com/od/chanelcoco/a/coco_chanel.htm
Coco Chanel. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved, September 28, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_Chanel