At which abbey did Coco Chanel learn sewing after her mother’s death?

Coco Chanel learned sewing at Aubazine Abbey after her mother’s death.

When Chanel’s mother died in 1895, Gabrielle and her sisters were sent to the Aubazine abbey in Corrèze, France. The institution was run by Cistercian nuns, and Chanel received practical instruction in sewing there.

Aubazine is frequently mentioned in accounts of Chanel’s visual influences. The abbey’s architecture, geometric forms, restrained colors, and black-and-white religious surroundings are often linked by biographers to elements that appeared in her later aesthetic.

The abbey was not a fashion school in the modern sense. Chanel’s training was practical and domestic, which makes the later development of her couture empire especially notable. Her early needlework helped prepare her for millinery before she expanded into clothing, accessories, and fragrance.