Fashion Designer Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel (1883-1971) was born in Saumur, Southern France. She began by designing hats, first in Paris in 1908, and later in Deauville. Her fashion boutiques (one in Paris and one in Deauville) opened simultaneously in 1914. She opened an haute couture salon in Biarritz in 1916 and in 1920 moved to Paris in the present quarters on rue Cambon. Ready-to-wear fashions were not introduced until 1978, after Coco's death. Chanel was famous for popularizing practical clothes, including pants for women, little black dresses, and box-like collarless jackets with bias edging and brass buttons. Her first fabrics included wool jersey, which was comfortable and easy fitting, but was not considered suitable for fashionable clothes. Traditional Chanel accessories include multiple strands of pearls and gold chains, quilted handbags, sling-back pumps in ivory with black toes, quilted handbags with shoulder straps made of gold chain, and gardenias. She liked to mix imitation jewels with real jewels and often combined massive amounts with sportswear. Chanel's business was interrupted by World War I and again in 1939 at the beginning of World War II, after which it did not reopen until 1953. Karl Lagerfeld, Artistic Director of CHANEL Haute Couture, Ready-to-Wear and Accessories, joined CHANEL in 1983, 12 years after Mademoiselle Chanel passed away in 1971. Karl Lagerfeld has adopted Goethe's famous motto: "Build a better future by expanding on elements of the past." At CHANEL he has changed nothing and everything, interpreting CHANEL in his own way with elegance and wit. He would have certainly met Mademoiselle's approval, since her ideas also often created mini-revolutions before becoming the industry standard.