Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel was born in France 1883.  She was put into an orphanage at the age of 9 with her older sister.  Gabrielle got the name CoCo when she would sing a song called CoCo in a saloon to a bunch of rich and inconsiderate men.  She had another job to earn her poor income.  She would do clothing alterations and repairs for the wealthy.  This is how she first noticed her talent.  CoCo headed to the fashion capital of the world Paris to improve and change her life.  She started by designing and making hats for the socialites which then lead to her name becoming well known.  This finally took her to her first collection. 
cChanel had a modernist philosophy, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity.  This made her an important figure in the 20th century fashion.  She changed the way woman were slaves to the bone crushing corsets, feathered hats and over the top detailing.  She introduced simplicitiy and loose garments.  The luxury was still persistant, however woman became able to walk in their clothes without struggle!  Now the revolutions continue, as in 2010 models for Chanel displayed a grey stripe in their hair and this has now becom a craze with celebrities and the general public.  CoCo's designs have always being chic and simplictic, however the amazing attention to detailwith beading, embroidery, textures and fabric have always given Chanel that edge in design.  Chanel head of house is currently positioned by Karl Lagerfeld who is doing a wonderful job of carrying on the success.
Chanel is the most influential designer I have came across.  Every design has so much inspiration and her life and journey is also influential as she had a lot of determination to make something of herself and I feel this is a perfect reason to look up to someone.