On the 19th of August 1883, Gabrielle Chanel was born into poverty in a small town in France. Her father traveled from town to town selling clothes whilst her mother made money laundering clothes. However, when Chanel was just 12 years old, her mother died and soon after her father abandoned her, sending her to an orphanage run by nuns. Those nuns turned out to be stricter than a jailer and she’d never see her father again. Chanel was miserable here and couldn’t wait to be an adult and Escape those orphanage walls. The only enjoyable part was she learned the art of stitching and sewing and eventually started making embellished hats and dresses.
At the age of 18, Chanel left the orphanage run by the nuns and enrolled in the Notre Dame finishing school for girls to develop her skills further. She wanted to create a brand new life for herself away from the sufferings of her past and aspire to live a life of luxury like the ladies of high society. To Chanel, it was obvious that to live her dream life, she needed just one thing: lots of money. The only question was how.
In 1903, as Chanel turned 20 years old, she got a job as a seamstress. It was a modest job, but her first little step into the big fashion industry. Chanel was working in a place that was frequently visited by off-duty soldiers who needed their uniforms tailored, and it didn’t take long for Chanel to capture their attention. Apart from her exemplary sewing skills, Chanel was as one soldier put it, “enchantingly beautiful.” One day, a soldier invited her to an evening of live musical performance. Chanel initially felt awkward because for the first time in her life she was attending an event where she would be in the same rooms as the elites who she’d enried from a distance, but that night at the music performance, Chanel saw that even amateurs were given the chance to perform on stage and since she was something of a singer herself, she sensed an opportunity to impress the crowd. She got up to sing and this led to her getting an evening job where she began singing in clubs. Some believe this is how she got her nickname Coco as she often sang a song with the lyrics who has seen Coco. However, Chanel herself once claimed the name Coco was short for the French word but a cat woman. The thing is Chanel is a pretty unreliable narrator of her own life as she frequently changed details of her past for example she told people she lived with her aunts growing up instead of the orphanage, but regardless of where the name came
But regardless of where the name came from, Gabrielle Chanel embraced it fully and went by Coco Chanel from then on. And thus, Chanel worked as a seamstress in the day, working long hours creating various garments. And then, a singer in the club in the evenings, performing for the crowds. It was at one of these shows that Chanel first met a rich playboy and polo player called Etienne Balsan. Before long, she began an affair with him and became his mistress. Some believe Chanel saw Balsan as a way for her to get into the inner circle of high society, as she soon began mingling with the upper class and wealthy aristocrats. Thanks to her connections to Balsan, Chanel even began living in Balsan’s chateau, where he regularly used to shower her with the finest presents, be it the dresses or jewelry he would gift her, the best of contemporary fashion. However, after a while, Chanel seemed to stop wearing the clothes Balsan bought her. He assumed she was upset with him, but the truth was Chanel was frustrated that all of the fashion for women was designed by men. Their designs were only deck and not practical or comfortable to wear. Women were compelled to wear gowns that were so tight at the waist they felt suffocating. And that’s when Chanel saw an opportunity and did something so bizarre that it would initially enrage almost all of the fashion community. Whilst attending an event with Balsan, Chanel turned up wearing a man’s suit that had been tailored to fit her body, along with one of Balsan’s ties. She was also wearing one of the boater hats she herself had designed. Basically, she was dressed up in all men’s clothing from head to toe, instead of a dress with a corset like other women. It was an eccentric look and everyone was talking about it. Chanel got exactly the amount of attention she wanted. After this, Chanel began working on her own designs, trying to make the point that a woman didn’t need to wear tight dresses or long skirts all the time, luxury could be comfortable.
Unless Chanel continued to raise eyebrows with her clothing. For example, when she wore pants in Venice whilst traveling in a gondola. Fascinated by her innovative designs, Balson gave Chanel a small room in his chateau where she could pursue her hat making and clothes designing. However, Balson saw it as a hobby for her, whilst Chanel was planning something much bigger. She was determined to turn it into a business. There was one problem though, Chanel needed investment to make that happen. And while she knew many wealthy aristocrats who would shower her with expensive gifts, when it came to actually investing in a business for her, nobody seemed willing to take the risk. Chanel was getting restless. And then one day when she was 26 years old, at Balson’s parties, she met a friend of his called Arthur Coppell, an extremely rich Englishman. And this relationship would completely change the direction of Chanel’s life, as the two not only fell in love but also became business partners.
Chanel left Balsan for Coppell and the couple moved to Paris. Coppell saw Chanel’s talent and in 1910 gave her the help needed to open her own small store in Paris. Initially selling the hats she made. Despite Coppell putting up some of the initial money and offering some of his business experience to help get things started, it was Chanel’s talent that really helped the shop become a success. As her designs were very unique and quickly became very popular. Her hats were elegant and functional, unlike the oversized fruit bowl decorative hats which French women were wearing earlier. Before long, her designs became a sensation in the city, as every popular French actress or socialite was wearing them. As her hats continued to sell well and her business grew, Chanel began hiring people to help her and also decided to introduce a line of her own casual luxury wear. Chanel’s vision was clear, she wanted to be a rich woman as soon as she could, and she quickly figured out her best option was to target France’s rich and famous. And she realized the Riviera was the place where these privileged people hung out and spent their vacations. So, Chanel headed there herself for a beach holiday with Coppell. And for Coppell, it was just a romantic getaway, but for Chanel, this trip was to scout out the perfect location for her first ever boutique. During the trip, she found a spot she loved, and thus, in the year 1913, the House of Chanel officially opened its doors in this very wealthy area. Chanel’s first collection was crafted from the jersey fabric, which was mostly used for men’s underwear until then. But these jersey garments quickly became all the rage in women’s fashion because of their simplicity and functionality. It was the first time French women were wearing dresses that were comfortable as well as stylish. Chanel said, “I want to give women the possibility to laugh and eat without necessarily having to faint.” Finally, Chanel was basking in the glory of her success, but unfortunately, the spotlight didn’t last long.
The world was going through a crisis, tensions were rising in Europe. Before anyone could predict, war erupted in 1914. During the war, people were struggling to get basic resources like food and shelter, so nobody was even thinking about buying luxury fashion. As expected, Chanel’s business collapsed. European men left for the battlefield and their wives took over the daily grind. Women now started working in the factories, so there was no way they would wear dresses with frills and feathers. Many would have got disheartened by these circumstances and quit, but Chanel instead understood the requirements of the time. She came up with an idea, she made practical changes in her designs and launched a daily wear collection for women using her signature Jersey material that would be more suitable for the jobs women were now doing. Her Jersey dresses became a huge hit amongst women in the workforce and Chanel’s reputation grew even further. By the 1920s, Chanel had turned wartime obstacles into opportunity. She later remarked, “The world was dying, and another was being born. An opportunity came forward and I took it.”
However, while Chanel’s professional life was going absolutely great, the rest of her life was certainly not. Chanel was conquering the business world, but her relationship with Coppell was getting bitter. She was madly in love with Coppell, but one day he told her he was going to marry the daughter of an English aristocrat. It was the year 1918, the same year World War one ended. But Chanel was heartbroken and felt betrayed. The truth was Coppell loved Chanel too, but his background meant he was expected to marry someone with a title, whereas Chanel didn’t have any rank and was still looked down on by many in the upper class. Irony, those same aristocrats who refused to accept Chanel because of her background and status were later be queuing up to wear her clothing. However, even after Coppell got married to another woman, Chanel continued both their business and romantic relationship. She was his mistress now, but she took solace in the fact that Coppell was still present in her life, as the two would still secretly meet each other. However, on December 22nd 1919, everything changed. Chanel’s whole life turned upside down when she heard the news that Coppell had been killed in a car accident. It’s believed he was on his way to visit Chanel when he died. With Coppell’s death, Chanel lost the only person in her life she considered family. The love of her life was gone, and that was the last time anybody saw Coco Chanel crying.
Chanel was now lonely and angry. This ignited a fire within her, she wanted revenge on the elites who she blamed for Coppell’s death and splitting them apart. Within two years, Chanel launched a new product, a perfume called Chanel Number Five. It was released in 1921 and at this point, women were really only wearing oils that had a single scent like vanilla. Whereas Chanel Number Five made different scents together and created something unique that soon became a symbol of class and luxury. Chanel Number Five became the best-selling perfume in the world and of course, it is still popular even to this day. It was such an iconic scent that when Marilyn Monroe was asked what she wore to bed, she replied, “Just a few drops of Chanel Number Five.” However, with her lover and business partner Coppell dead, Chanel needed a new business partner. Since back then, women actually couldn’t have their own bank account and when it came to things like business deals and contracts, she didn’t know what to do as Coppell had always taken care of those.
1923 – 1933
So, in 1924 she found a new business partner and investor, a very wealthy man with experience in luxury fashion brands named Pierre Wertheimer. This partnership allowed her to stay in business, the contract Chanel signed only left her with 10% of the profits from the sales of Chanel Number Five. It was an unfair deal, but she’d signed it and would be fighting for the rest of her life.
Around the same time, Chanel’s brand logo was unveiled, the interlock C’s which are now recognized globally. She also introduced several trends that would have a massive impact on fashion, such as the two-tone shoe and little black dress, along with sportswear and swimsuits for women. Chanel herself continued to dress in traditionally masculine clothing and really pioneered shorter dresses, eliminating corsets, and the idea that luxury should be comfortable, and fashion for women could be more practical. Along with dominating the fashion industry, Chanel was also dating The Duke of Westminster and as a result, Chanel got invited to many Royal functions, and even befriended Winston Churchill. It does seem that throughout her life she now repeatedly managed to charm some very influential men in order to get her into the social circle she wanted and grow her business ambitions.
By the 1930s, Chanel had also launched a jewelry line and famous handbags, and movie stars were wearing Chanel items. However, the 1930s also saw the rise of Nazi Germany, and by the time Chanel and the Duke broke up, Europe was once again headed for war.
In 1940, the German Army invaded Paris and completely took over the city. Chanel closed her stores, which meant putting thousands out of work. Chanel’s biography states that she then fled to Lake Geneva for the war, but this is not true. She remained in Paris and moved into the Hotel Ritz, which ended up being where the Nazis set up their headquarters, meaning Chanel was living amongst them during World War II. In fact, she ended up getting into a relationship with a senior German officer named Hans Günther von Dincklage. As a result of this, while the Nazis destroyed many homes and businesses in France, Chanel was fine. In fact, her perfume boutique remained open. Now some say Chanel simply befriended the Germans in order to keep herself and her business safe, but that she was never actually loyal to them. But others believe Chanel was a Nazi sympathizer as there is some evidence to suggest she was anti-Semitic herself or at the very least that she joined the German side as she felt they would win the war. We don’t know her true motivations but it does seem clear that Chanel became a secret agent for the Nazis during the war, as they felt they could utilize her connections to the elite, such as some of the British royal family she knew from dating The Duke of Westminster.
So Chanel seemingly carried out missions for the Germans such as being deployed to Madrid to connect with Allied personnel under the guise of business plans. For a while, Chanel’s involvement with the Nazis was mostly just rumors, but then a book was released in 2011 called “Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel’s Secret War” which pieced everything together using French police archives that were now declassified and cross-referenced with documents from other countries. The book claims that Chanel was not just working with the Nazis but touring Europe trying to recruit new agents for the Third Reich. It’s also claimed she used her connections to gain secret information for the Nazis and convince other people to do tasks that would help the Germans during World War II. According to these now declassified documents, in 1944 the Nazis even sent Chanel on a mission to negotiate a surrender with the Allies as she personally knew Winston Churchill. However, Churchill rejected the deal since by that point it was becoming clear that Germany would lose the war. However, for Coco Chanel, her reason for helping the Germans could well have been that she once again sensed a business opportunity. You see, during Germany’s occupation of France, they’d introduced their anti-Semitic laws such as Jewish people being banned from owning companies and the man who Chanel had gone into business with, Pierre Wertheimer, was Jewish. Chanel had always viewed him as a leech since she was getting just 10% of the profits from her own business and it’s believed Chanel saw this as an opportunity to nullify her contract with him and that the Nazis would help her reclaim full ownership of her successful perfume company. Unfortunately for Chanel, Pierre was too smart. He temporarily transferred his ownership stake in Chanel’s company to a Christian friend of his and then he fled the country. When he returned after the war, his friend simply transferred Pierre his shares back, thus meaning Chanel was stuck only receiving 10% of the profits. By the time the war ended, Chanel dumped Hans Von Dinklage, but word of their affair spread like wildfire and Chanel was labeled a German collaborator and spy. Before she could leave France, Chanel got arrested.
After the war, Chanel was not officially charged with any crimes related to her alleged collaboration with the Nazis. Some theories suggest that her connections to high-ranking British politicians, royals, and elites helped her avoid prosecution, while others speculate that she may have used her wealth and influence to bribe officials and cover up her involvement. However, it is important to note that the evidence for these theories is not concrete and the true extent of her involvement with the Nazis remains unclear.
Despite not being officially charged after the war, Chanel received a very bad reception in France as there were constant rumors about her helping the Nazis. Her reputation was shattered, and the House of Chanel was in ruins. It was not safe for her anymore to live in Paris, so she fled to Switzerland and stayed in hiding for almost a decade. However, Chanel kept observing the evolution of the fashion world from the sidelines and she felt disappointed by everything she saw. The designs of Christian Dior annoyed her the most; he was making stiff and ornamental dresses, and Chanel hated them, saying he dressed women like armchairs. Eventually, she couldn’t stay away from the fashion world any longer. She was convinced that modern women needed her, so she decided to re-enter the fashion scene. She wanted to rebuild her brand’s legacy. Strangely, it was actually Pierre Wertheimer who helped Chanel make a comeback, even though Chanel had tried to nullify their contract during the war, and also unsuccessfully sued Pierre afterwards. Pierre knew that having her on board again would ultimately help the company make more money. In 1954, at the age of 71, Chanel re-opened her fashion house after it had been closed for 15 years since the war. However, the day she launched a new fashion line, the French media pounced on her. Understandably, people had not forgiven her, and they rejected her collection, calling it a disaster. In France, there was nothing but bad publicity for her new clothing line. However, before long, her dresses traveled to America and people over there fell in love with them. Whether it was because they didn’t know of Chanel’s involvement with the Nazis or they were just putting it all behind them, Chanel’s new collection aligned with the way modern Americans wanted to dress. Soon, Chanel’s clothing was popular with American celebrities and Hollywood actresses. Prominent women of the time like Jackie Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor all wore Chanel. Despite all odds, Chanel had finally reclaimed her fashion queen possession and even at age 75, she was still launching successful new designs such as the classic Tweed suit. But Chanel died in the year 1971 aged 87, and before long, fashion designer Carl Lagerfeld took over as creative director of the company and helped grow the business even further. Interestingly, the Chanel company is still owned by the Wertheimer family to this day. Although Pierre is long gone, his grandsons now control the brand and together they have a net worth of over 30 billion dollars. And of course, the House of Chanel has continued to be an extremely famous brand that still inspires prominent fashion designers around the globe. Chanel’s marketing is particularly genius. They create cinematic mini-films where you forget you’re watching an ad. But of course, despite Chanel’s business success, the company has still had a few controversies even after their founder had gone. For example, the 2021 Advent calendar they released for $825 generated a lot of bad press since it contained items like stickers and pins, and so many customers felt like the brand was ripping them off. Then again, compared to the company founder being a spy and helping Hitler, I guess it’s not exactly that big of a controversy. Which leads us to the final and most interesting question: What should we think of Coco Chanel?
There is no doubt that Coco Chanel can be accredited with some of the most influential creations in fashion history. She was a pioneer, an innovator, and considering she started out in poverty, sent to an orphanage with no prospects, the way she managed to leverage connections and build a gigantic business is remarkable