We trace the history of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s entrepreneurial journey as a fashion designer from her early years as an outsider (early 1900s) to her rise to success and consecration as an icon within the French haute couture field (early 1930s)—a field controlled by powerful insiders. Our study sheds light on the social forces and historical circumstances underlying an outsider’s journey from the margins of an established field to its core. Drawing on unique historical material, we develop a novel process view that highlights the shifting influence of forces operating at different levels in the accumulation, deployment, and conversion of various forms of capital (i.e., human, social, economic, and symbolic) that outsiders need to promote their ideas. In particular, our multilevel perspective accounts simultaneously for the individual’s efforts to push forward these ideas (micro-level), as well as the audience dynamics (meso-level) and exogenous forces (macro-level) that shape their recognition. Chanel’s historical case analysis also affords a window into one of the first female entrepreneurs with global impact in business history, with the added challenge of establishing herself in what at the time was a male-dominated and mature field.

我们追溯了加布里埃尔“可可”香奈儿作为时装设计师的创业之旅的历史，从她早年作为局外人（1900 年代初）到她在法国高级时装领域（1930 年代初）取得成功并成为偶像的过程——一个领域由强大的内部人士控制。我们的研究揭示了局外人从既定领域的边缘到其核心的旅程背后的社会力量和历史环境。借鉴独特的历史材料，我们发展了一种新颖的过程观，强调了在不同层面运作的力量在不同形式的资本（即人力、社会、经济和象征性）的积累、部署和转换中的变化影响。需要宣传他们的想法。尤其，我们的多层次视角同时说明了个人推动这些想法的努力（微观层次），以及影响他们认知的受众动态（中观层次）和外生力量（宏观层次）。香奈儿的历史案例分析也为了解商业史上首批具有全球影响力的女企业家之一提供了一个窗口，她面临着在当时男性主导的成熟领域确立自己地位的额外挑战。