Imagine your most incredible and scandalous wish coming true. Coco Chanel didn't just bring her fantasies to life. This woman alone revolutionized and transmuted the fashion industry. In summary her own words, "To be irreplaceable you must be different", Chanel has eradicated her opponents with her bold and unique ideas. From modest beginnings to wealthy ends, it is undeniable that fashion icon Coco Chanel fabricated the very principles of our fashion industry today and created an everlasting legacy for ages to come. In the picturesque countryside of Saumur, France, on August 19, 1883 Gabrielle Chanel was born. During her early life, Coco found companionship with her five siblings. However, Gabrielle's peripatetic father, Albert Chanel, was not present in her childhood. Unfortunately, with five children and a wife to support, Albert had difficulty making up time and, more importantly, money for his family. Often due to his unstable job as a merchant, Coco's destitute family was forced to do odd jobs. Gabrielle's mother was the only constant parental figure in her life until she turned 11. In February 1895, his mother died, separating from her five children. Between work and raising his children alone, Albert Chanel felt he had no other option than to abandon them. While her two brothers were sent to work on a farm, she and her two sisters were sent to an orphanage, sadly, never to see her brothers or her father again. Chanel has always chosen to avoid the topic of her childhood. Although there is a gray area between the first decade of her life and the beginnings of her career, Chanel admitted that these years had a huge impact not only on her life but also on her simplistic… medium of paper… ..2012."Coco Chanel." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Gale biography in context. Network. February 13, 2012.de la Haye, Amy. "Coco Chanel." Encyclopedia of clothing and fashion. Ed. Valerie Steele. Detroit: Sons of Charles Scribner, 2005. Gale biography in context. Network. 14 February 2012. Marano, Hara Estroff. "The Style Imperative: Style is more character than clothes, more attitude than wealth. It is you who makes your inner self visible. So forget what you have learned about appearance not counting; you can no longer afford to go without style ." Psychology Today September-October. 2008: 78+. Psychology collection. Network. February 13, 2012. Martin, Richard. "Chanel, Coco (1883-1971)." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. vol. 1. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. 475. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Network. February 13. 2012.