Chanel

The incredible destiny of Coco Chanel

Gabrielle Chanel was born in Saumur, in Maine-et-Loire, in August 1883. She was the daughter of a traveling merchant and the eldest of five children. Her mother died when she was barely 14 years old and her father abandoned her. He left her in the care of the orphanage of Aubazine, in Corrèze. It was there that she learned sewing. When she left the orphanage, at 18 years old, she worked as a seamstress, doing alterations here and there, and made ends meet by singing in cabarets. It was there that she was given the nickname Coco. Then, she fell in love with a certain Étienne Balsan, a millionaire gentleman who introduced her to the world of luxury. Thanks to him, Gabrielle Chanel met many of her future clients. She opened her first workshop in 1909 in a bachelor apartment on boulevard Malesherbes. Quickly recognized for her elegance and simplicity, she opened her own boutique a year later on rue Cambon, in Paris. Rather against the tide of her time, Gabrielle Chanel did not hesitate to reveal a little more of women's bodies, shortening their skirts and introducing trousers. Thanks to her, a new femininity was born. What is more, it would soon be paired with a sumptuous fragrance…

Chanel perfumery

In 1921, Coco Chanel stated that a woman without perfume is a woman without a future. So she had an essence created to enhance her outfits. For this, she called on the talent of Ernest Beaux, who offered her five fragrances. She chose the fifth and decided to name it Chanel n°5, launching her collection, in a burst of superstition, on May 5, the fifth day of the fifth month of the year. However, true consecration came one day in 1954 when a curious journalist asked Marilyn Monroe what she wore to sleep. She replied: just a few drops of N°5. This became Chanel's best advertising line and launched the legend. Since that day, the house of Chanel has continually developed ever more luxurious fragrances. It incorporates the finest ingredients in the world. Moreover, the competition from Christian Dior has constantly pushed forward the boldness and creativity of the house of Chanel.

Although now run by Karl Lagerfeld under the stewardship of Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, Coco Chanel has always based its philosophy on a maxim of its founder: fashion fades, style never does. This has earned it the admiration of some of the world's greatest personalities, such as Romy Schneider, Jeanne Moreau, Jackie Kennedy or, more recently, Audrey Tautou. In fact, the latter was even entrusted with embodying the designer in her early days in Anne Fontaine's film Coco Avant Chanel.