Coco Chanel
The mystery of fashion’s iconic dissembler
‘The best things in life are free,” said the legendary Gabrielle Chanel, who added, “The second best things are very, very expensive.”
She could have been talking about her iconic bags, shoes and jewellery, all of which are very, very beautiful, but yes: very, very expensive. The intertwined Cs do not come cheap.
Perfumes are also part of the Chanel empire, and as perfumes go, Chanel’s are not inexpensive, but at least they are within the grasp of most of us, and they allow us to feel beautiful — alluring, even — and perhaps, like Mademoiselle Chanel herself, a little mysterious.
Each new Chanel perfume carries a lot on its shoulders; it’s not enough for it to be a delightful scent, it must also reflect in some way the heritage, the personality, and the story of the woman who started it all.
And what a story. But you will only get the bare bones, as it’s impossible to give you much flesh on them. This is because, as an inveterate dissembler and obfuscator, Coco managed to weave an air of mystery and magic around her diminutive figure.
However, there are some facts: Born in 1883, in the Auvergne area of France, Gabrielle Chanel lost her mother when she was 11, and her father abandoned her and her sister to a convent orphanage, where she stayed until she was 18. She had much to thank the convent for, as it was here she learned practical skills, including sewing, which were to stand to her in later years.
A brief stint in a music hall followed, which is where she earned the nickname Coco, short for Cocotte, a kept woman.
Even back then, it was obvious that she wasn’t your typical orphan, and she had no trouble attracting interesting, wealthy men who enjoyed her company. More than that, when she became determined not to be a kept woman, but rather to make her name in the world of women’s fashion, they were extremely willing to fund her.
She quickly realised that in order to be irreplaceable, one must be different, and she changed the way women dressed, freeing us from the restrictions of corsets, creating haute couture out of the simple Breton top, and men’s trousers and even men’s underwear. And, of course, there’s the fashion item for which she is most famous — the little black dress.
Probably the most significant of her backers was an English aristocrat called Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel, who was also her lover. Sadly, he died in a car crash in 1919, 10 years after they first met. Boy had actually married an English woman from his own social set during those years, but the couple continued to see each other, so needless to mention, Gabrielle was heartbroken when he died. Some say the intertwined Chanel Cs stand for Coco Chanel, others say they signify Chanel and Capel.
Power was an aphrodisiac for Gabrielle, and other lovers included the Duke of Westminster, one of the richest men in England, but as the years went on and her success grew, she began to understand her own worth. As she said herself: “Everyone marries the Duke of Westminster. There are a lot of duchesses. But only one Coco Chanel.”
She hadn’t much of an education, but she was a fast learner, and she learned about literature and art from the many movers and shakers of early 20th-Century Parisian cultural life, whom she befriended.
A visit to Mlle Chanel’s apartment on Rue Cambon in Paris reveals her
“Everyone marries the Duke of Westminster. There are a lot of duchesses. But only one Coco Chanel”
exquisite taste, her interest in the arts, and her passion for learning. It’s also a step back in time: everything is preserved exactly as she left it. It’s stunningly decorated with priceless Coromandel lacquer screens from China, and it’s full of wonderful art — many pieces by her artistic contemporaries, including a painting by Salvador Dali — and the published works of Jean Cocteau, whose plays Chanel designed costumes for.
The furnishings provide a stunning insight into her mind. A woman who was essentially alone for most of her life, she decorated the apartment with pairs of animals — some etched in marquetry on the Coromandel screens, some ornaments in their own right, like her pair of lions. The lion was her birth sign — she was born in August — and it’s also the emblem of Venice, where she based herself for a short while after the death of Boy Capel. It became one of her favourite places.
Other significant places for her, apart from Paris, include Deauville, on the Normandy coast, where she opened her first boutique, and Biarritz, which lies on the Basque coast, where she opened her third.
Place is a very important part of the Chanel legacy, and these four places in particular stand out — Paris, Venice, Deauville and Biarritz.
A visit to the Chanel archives reveals how the Chanel brand takes preserving her legacy a step further. The merest photo, the smallest allusion is preserved as if in aspic; each little souvenir is handled with such care, it might as well be a Faberge egg. There are researchers who are constantly looking for artefacts relating to Chanel’s past, scouring the internet to buy old pieces of her work, or, indeed, anything related to her.
White coats and gloves
The curators wear white coats and only handle the exhibits when they are wearing gloves. Different things are displayed at different times, and currently there are three installations, one for each of the coastal towns beloved of Coco — Deauville, Biarritz and Venice.
In the Deauville section, there are photos of her in her shop, her first; an early sailor top made of silk; and photos of sand — an allusion to the beige she liked. There are photos of Coco herself wearing her own early designs. She favoured a limited palette for herself — black, white, beige and red.
The Biarritz section has a display of her order books. Clients included Mrs Si Newhouse, the American socialite of her time, and Mme Gris, wife of the famous artist. In another order book, the French actress Romy Schneider appears many times. Apparently, Schneider said three people made her a star — Alain Delon, her lover; Luchino Visconti, the director; and Mlle Chanel.
The archives for the Venice section include mannequins wearing fashions from many of her early collections, including an exquisite dress featuring a lion’s head, watches from her jewellery lines, and perfume bottles.
Perfume is a key part of the Chanel heritage, and this year, when it was decided to create and launch three new perfumes, it was decided to use those places most significant to Mlle Chanel’s personal life and career. Given that, apart from Paris, they are coastal cities, the group title, Les Eaux de Chanel, is apt. “We wanted to create something fresh, light, maybe more casual. And we thought, ‘How can we tell a story that is close to Chanel?’” says Olivier Polge, creator of the perfumes Paris-Deauville, Paris-Biarritz and Paris-Venise. “We came across this idea of combining the cities, always with Paris.”
Olivier is the ideal man for the task; he knows all about heritage, not just that of Chanel herself, but also her perfumes. He is the son of Jacques Polge, the creator of many of Chanel’s most iconic perfumes, who was with the house of Chanel for five decades.
Olivier has been head perfumer for five years, and has already had many successes, including Boy and No 5 L’ Eau.
“These are places I knew before. The idea was not to be really literal or even to make a historical research on what happened in 1910 with Gabrielle in Deauville, but I think we chose the cities because they are inevitable for us. It goes beyond what might have happened there; they really evoked certain atmospheres, not always linked to Gabrielle. I think that at some point... those archives, you have to have them unconsciously in your mind, and those scents, they are not nostalgic, they are looking forward.”
So while the titles are inspired by the places closest to Gabrielle’s heart, the perfumes are very much of the moment. “I think we prefer different scents now, we have evolved; tastes change, habits change,” Olivier says.
However, in the creation of each of the perfumes, Olivier took inspiration from the places themselves. “They are all cities next to the sea,” he says.
Speaking of the Paris-Deauville perfume, he says: “Deauville is in Normandy; it’s a destination where, from Paris, you can go for the weekend. I had in mind Normandy countryside — green scenery. This is why Paris-Deauville is made of basil. There is some jasmine, some patchouli, but mostly geranium and iris, and it dries on a woody accord. It’s very fresh, with plenty of citrus.”
Wild and fresh
The second one is Paris-Biarritz. “It’s fresher — the city of Biarritz is on a much wilder, more powerful ocean. I was not only trying to translate the scent of the sea, but also the air,” Olivier explains. It’s the most dynamic scent of the three. It’s made of orange oil, certain grapefruit notes and muguet accord — lily of the valley. “You cannot extract oil from the flower,” Olivier says, “but it’s made of a combination of rose, jasmine, and certain synthetic notes that have this oceanic-accord feel. It dries on a white musk accord.”
The third scent is Paris-Venise: “Venice is the door to the oriental world. When you say that to a perfumer, you right away think of certain ambery notes. When Coco Chanel went to Venice, this is where we feel she developed her taste for the baroque; this is why Venice is a mature, rounder, warmer scent. There is also a scent of orange flower, iris, and it dries on a powdery note.”
Yet they are all quite light. As Oliver emphasises: “There is a taste for a light fragrance throughout the world now.”
Chanel was a woman of her time, but she was a woman who moved with the times, and who was often ahead of her time. She would have approved.