Coco Chanel’s Influence on Women in Society To conclude, Coco Chanel was, in her own way, a liberator of women. She released them from the bounds of the corset, which greatly limited a woman’s physical movement and served as a restraint upon women in general society. While women in America were fighting for the vote, they were doing so in outfits fit for revolutionaries. A dropped waist and soft fabrics helped women focus less on their own physical discomfort and more on what they were trying to achieve. They were granted the opportunity to enjoy the same luxury as men: the luxury of comfort. Chanel’s refusal to conform initiated a movement that would see generation after generation of women using fashion as a way to express themselves, rather than attempting to fit themselves into an unrealistic ideal.