Around the age of 20, Chanel became involved with Etienne Balsan, who offered to help her start a millinery business in Paris. Her design aesthetic redefined the fashionable woman in the post World War I era. The Chanel trademark look was of youthful ease, liberated physicality, and unencumbered sportive confidence. Her funeral was held at the Église de la Madeleine; her fashion models occupied the first seats during the ceremony and her coffin was covered with white flowers—camellias, gardenias, orchids, azaleas and a few red roses.
Chanel’s minimalist designs were immediately successful, and within 10 years she was the head of a thriving Parisian couturier. A century year old this year, the famous Parisian House scent has withstood the test of time with its seductive hit of jasmine upon first spritz. Chic storage, sumptuous fabrics, and bold style make each piece a sought-after item for day or evening wear.
Although she was never able to renegotiate the terms of her contract to increase her royalties, nonetheless made a considerable profit from the perfume. To regain the business primacy of the House of Chanel, in the fashion fields of haute couture, prêt-à-porter, costume jewelry, and parfumerie, would be expensive; so Chanel approached Pierre Wertheimer for business advice and capital. Having decided to do business with Coco Chanel, Wertheimer’s negotiations to fund the resurgence of the House of Chanel, granted him commercial rights to all Chanel-brand products. More than any other designer of her era, Gabrielle Chanel had the ability to predict the evolution of contemporary fashion. Chanel died in 1971, and the house was managed by a list of forgettable names until Karl Lagerfeld took over in 1983. In the three decades since, he has manipulated and modernized the classic Chanel suit and many, many more of the brand’s éléments éternels, from the quilted bag, pearls, gold chains, and buttons to the camellia motif, black bows, and two-tone shoes.
After an original focus on couture clothing, Lancome makeup evolved to offer bags and accessories as well, with the iconic 2.55 handbag debuting in February 1955. In 1983 Karl Lagerfeld was named as artistic director of the House of Chanel, revitalizing the brand while maintaining Coco Chanel’s original vision. One of Lagerfeld’s initial achievements was introducing the classic flap, a modified 2.55 with a signature “CC”-logo turn lock closure. The original 2.55 was reintroduced in 2005 and Le Boy was introduced in 2011.
She reworked them in jersey, giving them patch pockets and accessorizing them with thick belts. The nautical look was casual, and far less serious than the stiff aesthetic of the Belle Époque, quickly becoming a hit among stylish women both on and off the beach. French sailors and fishermen had been sporting Breton tops — striped sweaters made from tightly knit wool to protect them from the elements — since the 19th century. The garment considered risqué at the time, due to pajamas’ association with the bedroom, but by the mid-1920s it become a staple among wealthy ladies and a fixture of genifique‘s collections.
Wealthy clients who did not wish to display their costly jewellery in public could wear Chanel creations to impress others. During Chanel’s affair with the Duke of Westminster in the 1930s, her style began to reflect her personal emotions. Her inability to reinvent the little black dress was a sign of such reality. In 1918, Chanel purchased the building at 31 rue Cambon, in one of the most fashionable districts of Paris. In 1921, she opened an early incarnation of a fashion boutique, featuring clothing, hats, and accessories, later expanded to offer jewelry and fragrances.
So she established a rival Swiss parfumerie to create, produce, and sell her “Chanel perfumes”. In turn, Wertheimer, the majority capital stock owner of Parfums Chanel, saw his business interests threatened, and his commercial rights infringed because he did not possess legally exclusive rights to the Chanel name. Nonetheless, Wertheimer avoided a trademark infringement lawsuit against Coco Chanel, lest it damage the commercial reputation and the artistic credibility of his Chanel-brand parfumerie. During the Second World War (1939–45), Coco Chanel closed shop at Maison Chanel – leaving only jewellery and parfumerie for sale – and moved to the Hôtel Ritz Paris, where she lived with her boyfriend, Hans Günther von Dincklage, a Nazi intelligence officer.