Necessity: The Mother Of Style Innovate: Coco Chanel's basic designs changed the way women think about clothes.(A)

Byline: MARILYN MUCH

It was 1913, and Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was trying to find a warm, comfortable dress to wear while staying at the tony resort of Deauville, France.

After searching her wardrobe and coming up empty, she decided to draw on her talents as a seamstress. She learned about sewing as a child growing up in a convent orphanage.

Chanel didn't make a sketch, a rule she would follow throughout her career. Instead, she just followed her instincts. She found an old jersey knit and cut the front so she wouldn't have to pull it over her head. Then she added a ribbon, a collar and a knotted bow -- and bingo, a Chanel original.

Chanel (1883-1971) knew how to design clothes and how to sell them. She was glamorous and looked well in clothes, so she became her own billboard. In this case, she made sure to flaunt the dress wherever she went. When people asked her where she got it, she told them if they liked it she'd sell it to them, she told author Paul Morand in 1960. When asked how much, she created even more of a cachet by saying she'd find out and get back to them.

"I sold 10 dresses like that," Chanel said to Morand. "My dear, my fortune is built on that old jersey that I put on because it was cold in Deauville."

At first, people didn't take her designs seriously. They called her look a "glamorization" of poverty. After all, she was using cheap jersey fabric that was used mostly to make men's undergarments. Her style was simple and basic, unlike the frilly Edwardian look of the time.