As part of the celebration of Women’s History Month, Kishwaukee College will host a unique portrayal of legendary fashion designer and entrepreneur, Coco Chanel, at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in Jenkins Auditorium in the Kishwaukee College Conference Center. The performance is free and open to the public.

Annette Baldwin, a Chicago-area actor and lecturer with Staging History, will portray Chanel in a one-woman performance designed to educate as well as entertain.  Through this approximately 45-minute performance, “Coco” shares the story of her rise to fame, her fashion theories and innovations, and the creation of her most famous fragrance, Chanel No. 5. She also is candid about competitors and the men in her life. After the performance, Mademoiselle Chanel will answer questions from the audience on her life, achievements, influence and legend.

Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (1883-1971) was the 20th century’s most influential designer of women’s fashion, but also played an influential role on women’s place in society. Chanel believed women should be comfortable in their clothes and that they could be casually elegant and sophisticated – views that reflected and molded the changing status of women. Her theories on fashion continue to influence another generation of designers and to guide women through an otherwise expensive and frustrating world of ever-changing styles.

She was one of the first women in business to break the “glass ceiling.” In 1996, Australian Financial Review Magazine placed Chanel on its list of the top 10 tycoons of the 20th century. Coco Chanel’s innate business sense, enviable capacity for work, uncanny prediction for what would next emerge in the world of fashion, and her single-mindedness of character, assured that she will always stand in fashion history’s spotlight.

For more information on the Coco Chanel performance at Kishwaukee College, contact Laura Chiavini at 815-825-2086, ext. 3100; for more information on Staging History and Annette Baldwin, visit www.staginghistory.com.