In 1910 Chanel opened her very first boutique at 21 Rue Cambon in Paris, designing lavish hats. The simple elegance of her aesthetic soon swept through Paris. Chanel moved on to opening more boutique-style stores, including one in Deauville in 1913. There she introduced her line of sportswear, something that would revolutionise how women dressed and create an entire genre of clothing that is more popular today than ever. In 1915 Chanel made the biggest move of her career up to that point: banking on the reputation she had built over the previous five years, she opened her first couture House in Biarritz followed by the now famous Chanel Fashion House at 31 Rue Cambon in Paris in 1918.
On 5 May 1921, Chanel made possibly her biggest lasting mark on the world: she introduced the fragrance Chanel No. 5. The scent was created by Ernest Beaux and was given its name simply because it was the fifth fragrance presented to Chanel. Coco would unveil other fragrances in her lifetime, but none so timeless as Chanel No. 5. The purpose of the fragrance was to create a unique scent to epitomise the flapper and the revolutionary spirit of the 1920s.
The 1920s was a time of change and revolution, especially in the United States. The post-war decade began with the prohibition of alcohol and women finally being given the right to vote, a right that had been granted to women over the age of 30 two years earlier in England (the right to vote was finally granted to all women aged 21 and over in 1928). It is now a well-known fact that the act of prohibition didn’t stop people drinking alcohol; in fact it simply gave rise to organised crime. The United States was littered with seedy nightclubs and speakeasies run by questionable types that would offer alcohol on the sly. These establishments became a huge part of culture throughout the 1920s, especially for the younger crowd. Along with these clubs came the new and hip sound of Jazz music; coupled with a burgeoning fashion scene and rapid economic growth, the decade grew into what we refer to now as the Roaring Twenties.
The movement of women’s fashion throughout the 1920s was towards dropping the often restrictive and punishing corsets and petticoats of past centuries in favour of a comfortable fashion; a trend that would change not only fashion, but also the way women were perceived in culture. The first major clothing revolution that Coco Chanel would mastermind could be referred to as ‘La Garconne’, which is French for ‘Boyish’. This would be used to describe what is known in America as the ‘Flapper’ fashion movement, a style that would come to define the look of the period. During the mid-1920s Coco unveiled one of her most enduring fashion contributions: the little black dress. Being responsible for some of these wildly successful fashion revolutions would be enough of a résumé to keep the Chanel name in the history books, but Coco was never one to rest on her laurels.
In 1924, Coco wanted to expand the customer base for her Chanel No. 5 fragrance, but a move that grand required some serious financing. The Parfums Chanel corporate entity was created with backing from the well-to-do, Jewish, Wertheimer family. I note that they were a Jewish family for reasons that will become integral later in this chapter. The deal wasn’t even slightly in Chanel’s benefit, giving a seventy per cent stake in the company to the Wertheimers and only ten per cent of the stock to Coco for the licensing of her name. The remaining twenty per cent was awarded to Theophile Bader, who was instrumental in brokering the deal. The entire experience left Coco Chanel bitter.
Chanel would find more glamour in her life when she was called out to Hollywood to design for the stars in 1931, at the direct invitation of famed silver-screen studio head, Samuel Goldwyn. Quickly becoming a fashion legend and a legitimate member of the ‘in’ crowd, Coco revelled in her newfound American fame. She befriended various posh celebrities of the era such as Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and artist Pablo Picasso. Chanel would reach the peak of her fame and reputation in the 1930s, and by 1935 she was running five boutiques on Rue Cambon in Paris and was employing over 4,000 workers.
When the Second World War reached Paris, Chanel actually closed four of her boutiques, leaving many women out of work. A number of her biographers suggest that this move was done in retaliation to a labour dispute she had had with her workers a few years before, and that the opportunity to put them out of work was a vindictive action. The shop at 31 Rue Cambon remained open, often frequented by American soldiers looking to obtain gifts to send to their sweethearts back home. Little did these brave men know that the head of the House of Chanel was working for the enemy.
It is often echoed in biographies and articles that Coco Chanel was a horrible woman, a monster even; a sentiment that has been presented time and again from various sources. There is no doubt that her association with the Nazis was heinous, but this reputation came long before those revelations began to become public over a decade ago. One has to wonder how much of Coco’s poor reputation has to do with her being savvy and a strong businesswoman who took no prisoners and would not accept defeat? Would a man be given the same labels, or would he be labelled ‘industrious’ and ‘strong’? Her beginnings, born into a workhouse and abandoned in her early adolescence, made Chanel strong and determined. It is certainly a strength that should be admired, even if her actions shouldn’t always have been.
It was during the Nazi occupation of Paris that Coco Chanel would embark on a path that was to leave her name forever tarnished. It was in the early years of the Second World War that Hitler set his sights on the spoils and glamour of France. The German forces, complete with planes and tanks, rolled into France in May of 1940. The Fall of France was a brief affair; the French forces were defeated and surrendered in just six weeks. It was a humbling and even humiliating experience for the French; after all, they boasted the second most powerful military in Europe at the time. The reputation for military excellence came for the French during the First World War.
Once France had fallen, the French signed a surrender armistice with Germany that, in simplified form, split France into an occupied and an unoccupied zone. The northern part of France, including Paris, would be occupied by the Nazi regime. The Nazi occupying forces would set up a puppet government, referred to as the Vichy regime. This anti-Semitic French governing system was established to control the region more easily. Vichy was an area in France that, in the pre-war era, was a holiday destination known for its spas and refreshing water. The Nazis also moved into Vichy, along with the new French government officials. There was a serious need for space, so they moved into the various hotels in the city, kicking out the tourists. The head of the Vichy regime was French First World War hero Marshal Phillipe Pétain. The aged war hero would soon fall prey to the influence and menace of the Nazi propaganda machine.
On Thursday, 24 October 1940, French President Pétain and his Vice President Pierre Laval, met with Adolf Hitler in the isolated commune of Montoire. Hitler came to the meeting with Dr Paul Schmidt, his translator, and his Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop. The aim of Pétain was to negotiate the armistice with Germany and end their mutual hostilities for the good of his country. His actions that day, and the infamous photograph of him shaking hands with Adolf Hitler, would call his loyalty to France into question in the coming years and he is sometimes regarded as a collaborator. In reality, by working with the Nazis instead of against them, he was doing what he believed to be right. He agreed to peace, but refused to join the Nazi war machine. On 30 October 1940, Pétain addressed the French people in a speech titled ‘Cette Collaboration diot être sincère’, which revealed to the people that he had met with Hitler and had every intention of working with the Nazis and meeting their terms.