1920, public domain
Coco Chanel (1883-1971) was once one of the most recognizable women in the world. Among her many friends and lovers were Pablo Picasso, impresario Sergei Diaghilev, Igor Stravinsky, Jean Cocteau, and Winston Churchill. She had a 15-year affair with Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster. She was known to enjoy liaisons with women on occasion also.
She was an especially bright, witty, original woman. Her pal Picasso called her: “The most sensible woman in the world”. She was seductive, sharp, straightforward, and a bit cynical.
Through the decades the Chanel “Little Black Dress” developed into the classic choice for women. It has been copied, redesigned and retailored many times. New versions are shown every year. This dress will never go out of style.
Growing up, her family didn’t have a permanent home. Sometimes they stayed for a while in an abandoned shack. Her mother did laundry, and her father tellingly sold hats door-to-door.
Chanel worried that reporters would find out about her childhood; her parents never married; after her mother died at 31 years old, her father dropped her off at an orphanage. She was 12. Chanel claimed that when her mother died, her father sailed to America, and that she lived in a nice house with a pair of stern aunts (who didn’t exist). Chanel reinvented herself. She said that she was born in 1893. Her stories created a sense of mystery, but Chanel didn’t need any mystery, she had style.
She learned to sew in the orphanage, and when she turned 16 years old, Chanel found work as a seamstress.
In summer, 1920, Chanel opened a little shop in the pretty resort town, Biarritz, where she met a Russian Grand Duke, Dmitri Pavlovich. They enjoyed a sweet, short romance, short but important. He introduced Chanel to a Russian perfumer, Ernest Beaux, who had worked in Russia’s Imperial Court.
After a year of hard work and many experiments, Beaux placed ten numbered samples in front of Chanel, After sniffing them all, she chose sample No. 5. When Beaux asked her why, Chanel replied:
“I always launch my collection on the fifth day of the fifth month, so the number 5 seems to bring me luck, therefore, I will name it: No. 5.”
Among the clients who wore Chanel No. 5 were some of the most beautiful women of the 20th century. Chanel No. 5 was a favorite of Jacqueline Kennedy. The perfume continues to be an ultimate symbol of classy sensuality. Kennedy’s nemesis Marilyn Monroe said:
“What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course.”
Chanel No. 5 is still the best-selling perfume in the world.
When World War II began, Chanel closed her shops. She declared that wartime was not a time for fashion. Her connections with the Nazis, mostly because of her affair with a German SS officer, Walther Friedrich Schellenberg, made a dent in the love from her fans in France. Chanel said:
“My heart is French, my bottom is international.”
After the war, Chanel was more popular than ever. She was driven by a decided distaste for the new fashions of the 1940s and early 1950s. This era brought the introduction of the Chanel Handbag, with its quilted leather and the gold chain with the familiar Chanel logo featured prominently. It remains a classic. The handbag’s basic look hasn’t changed much over the decades. It’s still a sought after status symbol today.
Chic women loved her classic suit with its slim skirt and boxy jacket. But, it took a while for the Chanel look to take off in the USA. She got a big boost in the early 1960s when Jacqueline Kennedy was spotted sporting Chanel. In November 1963, when John F. Kennedy was murdered in Dallas, his wife was wearing a double-breasted pink Chanel wool suit.
Chanel left this world in January 1971. She went quietly in her hotel room at The Ritz with a view of The House of Chanel. After her passing, Chanel’s friends found only three dresses in her closet.
