She invented the classic look, the slick elegance which was later adopted by American business women. Coco Chanel believed in an unmistakable look. This look is not subject to eccentricity and fashion. This look is flattering woman and is easy to wear.
“I hate the old little girls,” said Chanel about women wearing miniskirts. She herself was creating her designs for women, not teenagers. Coco ridiculed the idea of a woman who tries to compete with young girls, using their weapons.
“Haute couture is finished because it’s in the hands of men who don’t like women and can only think of ridiculing women.”
“Men dress like women, women like men, and no one is happy with what he or she has,” said Chanel in her seventies. The biggest mistake for a woman, according to Chanel, is in trying to change herself. Because the real happiness is in not changing.
Audrey Hepburn Pictures
Discover wonderful Audrey Hepburn pictures here. Order online.
Audrey Hepburn Style. A magic combination of chic and high spirits, Audrey style had much to do with her personality and the way she conducted her life.
Audrey Hepburn Biography, the fascinating story of her childhood, her career and her style. The woman who was not classically beautiful, who became the style and role model for several generations.
Several women named her their role model. Natalie Massenet, the founder of U. K. based Net-a-Porter.com, the luxury fashion e-trader is certainly a very good example of a business woman and internet entrepreneur.
Natalie Massenet was an editor of Women’s Wear Daily in U. S. before moving to London in 1986, where she joined Tatler. "When I wrote an article telling people to buy something, I always wondered how many of them actually went out and bought it." Now she knows it well. In 2007, Net-a-Porter had 300,000 customers with extra 1,500 coming every month.
Her inspiration came when she left Tatler in 1998 and started working as a freelancer. Natalie went online doing a research, and understood where the weak points of the internet were. The internet community at that time was dominated by men, and there were only few American fashion brands offered online, which were not available for shipment outside the U. S.
Net-a-Porter was founded to cover the market gap which existed both online and offline.
"It was an obvious problem in the fashion industry. All the various media were telling women about what this season’s look is but when it came to distribution, not everyone can get to a designer’s boutique. Even those who do live in a major city don’t always have the time to go out shopping, much as they’d love to. So, Net-a-Porter was formed because the media was creating the thirst for designer clothing that we didn’t think was being met."
- Natalie Massenet.
The team of Net-a-Porter was an all-women team, and they created the service based on their vision of how they wanted it to be. The initial website offered 35 top fashion brands.
The website Net-a-Porter is targeting an international audience. The website offers the next season fashion instead of the traditional web approach of offering discount fashion articles. The business concept is very straight-forward: it appeals to a consumer who is ready to pay good money for luxury. The typical client of Net-a-Porter is a woman who is brand oriented, and doesn’t mind spending money online on a favorite brand. The website offers deliveries with all taxes and duties pre-paid all over the world, and the customer care is said to exceed all expectations.
From the very beginning, however, the idea of Net-a-Porter was not limited with an ambition to sell high fashion items around the world. Net-a-Porter has a look of a luxury online magazine, where visitor can read fashion articles, get fashion tips and see the latest fashion collections online.
Net-a-Porter today has grown from five persons to over 100. It ships its products to more than 50 countries, and the customer only pays the price indicated on the site.
Want to know more about Natalie Massenet and Net-a-Porter? Click on the interview below for the full story.
Mary Kay Ash
Mary Kay Ash biography, a short inspirational story of the greatest American woman entrepreneur.
She was one of the most successful fashion designers of all times. Even though her designs were often compared with the designs of Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli followed her own unique path. Her highly artistic personality, appearance and originality in everything she did, made her the international celebrity, comparable only to the phenomenon of Coco Chanel.
"Shocking Life. The Autobiography of Elsa Schiaparelli" is the source of wisdom and tips for a woman who wants to succeed. One of the most shocking Aha’s of this book is the confession of the author that she decidedly did not know anything about dressmaking. Instinctively she felt that this ignorance would pay off. She had a courage of a person who had nothing to loose, blind and without limit. She had no capital, no superiors (several fashion houses had refused to give her a job). The few principles about clothes she learned, were made by herself.
Although her ignorance looks almost shocking in the highly professional world of today, there is a certain pattern to be seen.
If you are passionate about something – go for it instead of learning it.
Maha is a mother of four. Like many other business women, she knows the challenges of balancing family with work. In 1998, she started Global Investment House, the Kuwait-based investment company. Maha Al-Ghunaim has succeeded in making Global Investment House one of the most successful financial institutions in the region. Forbes Magazine listed her in “The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World”.
Her advice to other women?
"My advice to women is to emphasize networking…A significant network of relations is a prelude to prominence; not having one will make you a soldier, but never a general."
- Maha Al-Ghunaim.
Michelle Obama Fashion Sense
Michelle Obama fashion sense and signature style, Michelle Obama photos.
“You become what you believe – not what you wish or want but what you truly believe. ”
- Oprah Winfrey
On some life stage each of us understands that this universal wisdom is true.
Oprah is a billionaire and one of the most influential women in the world, known to virtually anyone on the planet. Her name has become almost a brand. To her – it is her own life, that consisted of making choices.
The secret of her success? – She always made her choices based on her beliefs.
Josephine Esther Mentzer, known to the world as Estee Lauder, was born on July 1, 1908 in a Jewish family in Corona, Queens. She was the ninth child in a family.
Her dreams about building up her beauty empire were born when Estee was twelve-years-old. Her first and the most important career mentor was her uncle John Schotz, immigrant chemist who had a laboratory for making fragrances. He encouraged Estee in her dream to make women glamorous. He taught her to use oils to cleanse and moisten the skin, instead of using soap and water.
"In every life there is a moment – an event or a realization – that changes that life irrevocably. If the change is to be a happy one, one must recognize the moment and seize it without delay, " was the advice of Estee Lauder to women.
The power of being yourself – Coco Chanel
"Women want to change; they’re wrong. I’m for happiness, and happiness consists of not changing, " said Coco Chanel.
Being and staying yourself in everything you do and everything you wear, requires a certain degree of integrity. Finding an identity in style is nothing more than exploring your own personality and femininity and giving it the right outing in clothes.
J. K. Rowling Quotes
J. K. Rowling Quotes about her dream, about her life and about her Harry Potter.
Some time ago I heard in the news about a British girl aged 5, who had an IQ of 165. I thought: “I wish I could fly over the time and hear about this girl and what she is doing when she is thirty-years-old.”
I was a very capable (some said “talented”) young musician when I was a young girl. I loved music and I dreamed about a wonderful career I would make. To save time for the reader, I should say I never became a musician. Why? Because I thought at that time that opinion of other people about myself was very important. I wanted the whole world to say: “Oh, she does have a talent”, but it did not happen. At some point of time, someone important said that she did not see any special talents in me at all. I broke and I quit. I thought there was no place in the world of music for those who do not have a talent.
Speaking about famous women, they were in fact natural outsiders, rebels who did not accept verdicts. Sophia Loren – an actress like no one else, Princess Diana – a princess who made a difference, Anita Roddick – an entrepreneur who founded her business with principles…
Read their biographies and learn to let yourself be different.
Diane von Furstenberg, the famous fashion designer, started her career of an entrepreneur when she launched her little wrap dress, which became very famous in early 1970s. Her business quickly expanded, and her entrepreneurial success and her title of a princess made her an international celebrity.
She made and lost millions, and did it all on her own. However, in the middle of her success she sold her companies and licensed her name. She admitted that she disliked the whole process of being a manager.
" I think I know what women want and I ’ve got a very good sense of design and can create what they want. That ’s why all I have now in the way of a business organization is my design studio, so I ’m really nothing but a glorified consultant. "
- Diane von Furstenberg
Rita Moreno, the Academy Award winning actress, a singer and dancer, aged 77,
says the following about her attitude to aging:
"People tell me I look good these days, I look good because I feel good. I know people
who are older than I am who are twenty-five... To me, age is just a number."
Read more stories about famous women and beauty.
The Body Shop and Anita Roddick
The Body Shop and Anita Roddick. The business and the woman, who made a difference.
Anita Roddick Biography. She never had an ambition of running the biggest or most profitable retail business. She dreamed that The Body Shop becomes the best and most breathlessly exciting company.
The biggest illusion in life is seeing obstacles that either not really exist, or are not
really difficult to overcome as we think. During our lives we have thousands of brilliant
ideas, but only for a small part of them we would follow through.
Helen Thomas, the legend of American journalism, is an example of a woman who had a
dream and who lived it.
"I certainly never expected to be at the White House. I just wanted to be a reporter...
I didn’t know women weren’t supposed to be hired as journalists," she said.
Helen Thomas was born in August 4, 1920, in a family of Lebanese immigrants from Tripoli.
She has covered every president of America since John F. Kennedy.
She had reported for the United Press International until she was 79. At present
she works as a columnist for Hearst News Service.
"I still have goals... I want to be a good reporter. You know, you are only as good as your
last story, " she says.
Hillary Clinton Biography: a story of a fascinating political woman, senator, United States Secretary of State. Her character, her role models and her style.
Be Different to Succeed – An Advice from Anita Roddick
"Every element of our success was really down to the fact that I had no money. "
–
Anita Roddick, Founder of the Body Shop
Anita Roddick often said that the entrepreneurs like her would have been murdered for their ideas in a business school. She was convinced that entrepreneurship is mostly about being and thinking as an outsider, something you cannot learn.
Her advice for a starting entrepreneur was:
to set all your skills and insight on an idea
do a research and see what a competition is doing, and especially what your competition does not have;
become an entrepreneur who will to act and promote a product or service as being different.
More articles about Anita Roddick will follow.
Audrey Hepburn
The story of Audrey Hepburn is one of the most inspiring and original. She was like no one else, the actress with an aura of a princess. Read about the real woman beneath the style icon.
The Coco Chanel Biography is a story of a great woman entrepreneur. Coco Chanel influence in fashion and style has made her an icon of the 20th century.
Princess Diana biography in fashion. Princess Diana was one of the most stylish famous women of our time. Read about her transformation into the style and beauty icon.
The Great Depression was a hard time for haute couture fashion.
One of the greatest competitors of Chanel, Paul Poiret had to close his fashion house,
and his creditors seized everything he owned. Other rivals of Chanel were forced to
reduce their prices.
Chanel was convinced that the best way to survive was to maintain the highest standards
of haute couture workmanship. What would she sacrifice? The fabric. She started designing
evening dresses in cotton. Her prestige did not suffer. Vogue would say that Chanel
had revolutionized Hollywood by dressing Ina Claire in the simple white satin pajamas.
In the middle of the Great Depression Chanel launched a new line of jewelry, real diamonds
designed by herself and presented in the collection like never seen before.
She, who had used to say that too much money "killed luxury", revised her point of view.
Coco started promoting diamonds as a greatest value in the smallest volume. Chanel's
innovation was in convertion and adaptability of the pieces. Pieces could be taken apart,
tiaras could be turned into bracelets, the eardrops into brooches.
Coco Chanel did not change her mind about wearing jewelry. She revised it.