Coco Chanel
In 1909, Coco Chanel, a trained seamstress, opened a hat atelier in the 17th arrondissement at 160, Boulevard Malesherbes in Paris in the townhouse of her then lover, Étienne Balsan, offering elegant, simple hats for wealthy ladies. In the days of the Belle Époque, ladies of high society were accustomed to opulently decorated hats. As Chanel's modern, minimalist hat creations quickly became extremely popular among her extended circle of Parisian high society acquaintances, she purchased a property at 21 rue Cambon in Paris's 1st arrondissement in 1910 with the financial support of her next lover, Arthur "Boy" Capel, and opened a hat atelier there under the name "Chanel Modes," across the street from the back of the Hotel Ritz, where she would occupy a suite from 1937. This was followed in 1913 by a fashion boutique offering casual sportswear in fashionable Deauville and in 1915 by a couture shop in the chic seaside resort of Biarritz, where Coco Chanel offered women's fashions that were unusually sporty-casual yet elegant for the time. In 1916, she presented a full couture collection for the first time, and Chanel fashion was themed in American Vogue. In 1918, Coco Chanel opened a haute couture salon at 31 Rue Cambon. To this day, 31 is home to Chanel's main atelier and a flagship store, among other things. Gabrielle Chanel later also set up an apartment here (albeit without a bedroom, as she always slept in her two-room suite at the Ritz across the street), which remains to this day. In 1919, Chanel joined the Parisian haute couture association, Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. In the following years, Mademoiselle, as the unmarried Chanel was known throughout her life, successively acquired the properties at numbers 29, 25, 23 and finally 27 in Paris' Rue Cambon, so that she ultimately owned an entire row of houses there. Number 19 has also been owned by the company since 2013. Chanel itself states that the company was founded in 1913 with the opening of the boutique in Deauville and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2013.
Similar to fellow couturier Jean Patou, Chanel's signature look - in contrast to the conservative, opulent, stiff women's fashions of the time - consisted of simple, androgynous cuts with flowing, soft fabrics and dropped waists, all the rage for young, emancipated women in the 1920s. Inspired by women's sportswear and the nautical style of seaside resorts, Chanel quickly made a name for herself in the Parisian fashion world with youthful blouses, elegant blazers, three-piece suits, loose trousers and sequined tops in monochrome-decent tones. Her use of soft cotton jersey in women's wardrobe, hitherto known only for underwear - originally a necessity for cost reasons and because of the scarcity of resources in the period around the First World War - also soon helped her to achieve international recognition. In 1925, she first created a costume with a cardigan without lapels made of piped tweed, which became an icon of Chanel fashion and was later varied in numerous ways, for example as a bouclé costume trimmed with borders. Special features of the tweed jacket include patch pockets, decorative buttons with the Chanel logo and a metal chain sewn into the inside of the hem for an optimal fit. Starting in 1926, Coco Chanel once again attracted a great deal of attention in the fashion industry with her classic "little black dress" (French: petite robe noire), a knee-length black evening gown - at a time when short skirt lengths were still uncommon - thus creating one of the most important garments of the 20th century. Soon the Chanel style was copied from all sides, but this only added to the prestige of the house. Coco Chanel also designed jewellery collections, starting in 1924 in her own studio - she is considered the inventor of costume jewellery - very often using long pearl necklaces. From 1926, Mademoiselle designed stage costumes for directors Jean Cocteau and Charles Dullin, among others.
Chanel's perfume division was established in 1924 as Societé des Parfums Chanel in Neuilly-sur-Seine - where Chanel's headquarters are still located today, after the famous perfume Chanel Nº 5 had already been launched in 1921 by Coco Chanel together with the chemist and perfumer Ernest Beaux (1881-1961) from Grasse, as well as a series of other perfumes which were later discontinued (Nº 11, Nº 14, Nº 20, Nº 21, Nº 27, Nº 55). Choco Chanel herself had participated in the composition of the fragrance, eventually selecting the fifth sample from those presented to her (hence the name of the perfume) and also designing the minimalist bottle herself. The French businessman Pierre Wertheimer (* January 8, 1888; † April 24, 1965) and his brother Paul (* June 22, 1883), owners of the internationally operating cosmetics group Bourjois from Pantin, brought the financial means, the manufacturing facilities for perfume, the commercial expertise and the necessary business connections into the company and thus held 70% of the company, which operated separately from the fashion division of the house of Chanel. Coco Chanel herself owned only 10% of the shares, and the founder of Galeries Lafayette Théophile Bader - a friend of the Wertheimers' father, who had initiated the meeting with Coco Chanel in Deauville in 1923 - held 20%. Chanel had already been business associates and friends with Bader through her fashion salon and Perfume Nº 5. In 1924, make-up was first launched by Chanel. In 1926, the first Chanel boutique opened in Mayfair, London. In 1928, tweed costumes made of fabrics manufactured in Scotland by Chanel appeared for the first time. Coco Chanel tried in vain to increase her ownership of Parfums Chanel through legal action in the 1930s.
From 1930, at the invitation of Samuel Goldwyn, Chanel outfitted the screen stars of United Artists in Hollywood for a few weeks. In November 1932 Coco Chanel presented a jewellery collection with diamonds under the name "Bijoux de Diamants" in her private apartment at 29, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, which she had rented since 1923. In 1935, Chanel had 4,000 employees and sold 28,000 garments, although the company had felt the effects of the Great Depression in 1929, especially in the American market. At that time, there were five Chanel boutiques on Rue Cambon for the different product categories of the house.
In September 1939, after the Second World War had begun, Coco Chanel ceased haute couture fashion and temporarily sold only perfume and accessories at number 31. In 1940, the Wertheimer family, Jewish and originally from Alsace, emigrated to the United States via Brazil; the shares in Parfums Chanel were taken over pro forma by the friendly aircraft manufacturer Félix Amiot until their return after the World War, after which they were returned to Pierre Wertheimer without Coco Chanel being able to influence the ownership.
Chanel moved to Switzerland until 1954 following accusations that she had collaborated with the Nazis. After financial disputes and personal disputes with Pierre Wertheimer, Coco Chanel and he agreed in 1947 to continue their business collaboration, with Wertheimer securing the rights to all Chanel brand products and granting Coco Chanel a one-time payment of the equivalent of $350,000 and a perpetual 2% share of sales (equivalent to up to $1 million per year) to avoid a lawsuit or Coco Chanel going it alone. In 1954, the Wertheimers also acquired Théophil Bader's 20% share as well as the company's fashion division. Since then, the entire Chanel company has been in the hands of the Wertheimer family. Haute couture - at that time dominated by competitors such as Dior, Fath or Balenciaga - was revived in the Chanel house under the direction of the now 70-year-old Coco Chanel. On February 5, 1954, Coco Chanel presented her first fashion show after the war in Rue Cambon. After some initial difficulties - the French press initially mocked the fashion designer's advanced age and criticized the first models she presented - the collections were also extremely successful due to business in America and, as a side effect, boosted sales in the perfume business.
The house's first fragrance for men, Chanel pour Monsieur, was launched in 1955 and is still available today. In the same year, a quilted Chanel handbag with gold chain, the Chanel 2.55 (for "February 1955"), was presented and remains one of the company's classics to this day. In 1956, the American subsidiary Chanel, Inc. was founded in New York. In 1957, the two-tone sling pump appeared in beige with a black shoe cape, and Coco Chanel was honored with the Neiman Marcus Award in Dallas. In 1959, the Chanel N° 5 bottle was first presented as an art object at New York's Museum of Modern Art and later became part of the museum's permanent collection. Marilyn Monroe is said to have worn "just a few drops of Chanel No. 5 to sleep", and photos of Jacqueline Kennedy bending over her shot husband in a pink Chanel costume went around the world in 1963. Other famous clients of the time included Romy Schneider, Ingrid Bergman, Brigitte Bardot, Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor. In 1965, after Pierre's death, his son Jacques (b. August 18, 1911; † February 6, 1996), an avid horse breeder, took over as head of the House of Chanel. Under his leadership, sales of the perfume business declined; Chanel perfume, meanwhile, was even available for purchase in drugstore chains in the United States at ever-decreasing prices. Until her death at the age of 87, Coco Chanel was solely responsible for the creations of the house.
Transitional period
After Chanel's death in 1971, Gaston Berthelot, previously a ready-to-wear designer at Dior, initially took her place with little success. He was replaced in 1973 by long-time Chanel employees Yvonne Dudel and Jean Cazaubon. In 1974 Jacques' son Alain, who with his brother Gerard remains the sole owner of Chanel to this day, took over the reins of the group, while his father remained on the supervisory board until 1978. Chanel's first prêt-à-porter fashion collection, Chanel Boutique, was presented in 1978 under the direction of Philippe Guibourgé with moderate success. In 1980, Balenciaga disciple Ramon Esparza was entrusted with the design of Chanel collections. All of these designers were tasked with upholding Coco Chanel's legacy, worked in a correspondingly uninnovative manner, and ultimately contributed to Chanel increasingly suffering from the image of being a high-priced brand for affluent women of advanced age. Chanel's main sales during this period were generated by perfume, makeup and accessories.
Karl Lagerfeld
→ Main article: Karl Lagerfeld
In 1980, Alain Wertheimer hired advertising executive and later Chanel North America boss Kitty D'Alessio, who in turn introduced Wertheimer to then Chloé designer Karl Lagerfeld. According to Lagerfeld, who had never met Coco Chanel, Wertheimer offered him creative direction of the house in the fall of 1982, saying "Make something of it. If it works, wonderful. Otherwise, I'll just sell the company." At the end of 1982 Lagerfeld, who had been advised against the job by those close to him, was initially hired as a consultant for haute couture, while Hervé Léger (Hervé L. Leroux), who had been Lagerfeld's assistant at Fendi in Rome since 1981, took over the prêt-à-porter division. The following year, the Wertheimers made Lagerfeld the chief designer of the house's entire fashion division. His annual salary at the time was put at one million dollars.
The first Chanel fashion show directed by Lagerfeld took place in Paris on February 5, 1983. His first designs - a tribute to Coco Chanel's fashion from the 1920s and 30s - still met with a divided response, but by the second collection at the end of 1983 Lagerfeld was celebrated as the saviour of the House of Chanel. Lagerfeld's modern, sometimes unconventional interpretations of Coco Chanel's legacy restored the fashion brand to its former glory and, by expanding the collections, made a significant contribution to Chanel becoming one of the leading brands in women's fashion today, even among young women. Critics complain that Lagerfeld - although with immense financial success for the house of Chanel - merely implemented Coco Chanel's ideas in a contemporary way instead of enriching the brand with something of his own. Chanel's atelier, and thus Karl Lagerfeld's workplace during his lifetime, is still located on Rue Cambon in Paris. Chanel's management gave Lagerfeld a free hand with his designs - also in terms of budget - and saw the designer's varied commitments with other fashion companies as a creative asset for Chanel. In 1988 Lagerfeld received the International Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America for his Chanel collections.
Under Lagerfeld, Inès de la Fressange became a model for Chanel from 1983 until Lagerfeld replaced her with Claudia Schiffer in 1990. Schiffer and Lagerfeld went their separate ways in 1996, but began working together again for the Chanel brand in the early 2000s. Inès de la Fressange led Chanel's fashion show as a model in late 2010. Lagerfeld's personal associates at Chanel from 1997 included British fashion consultant Amanda, Lady Harlech, who had previously worked for John Galliano for 12 years until he moved to Dior. From the 2000s onwards, international stars such as Vanessa Paradis, Nicole Kidman, Audrey Tautou, Keira Knightley and Blake Lively were increasingly used as testimonials for Chanel.
Lagerfeld died in Paris on February 19, 2019. He was succeeded at Chanel by Virginie Viard, who had previously worked closely with Lagerfeld for 30 years.
Virginie Viard
Viard was hired by Chanel in 1987 as an intern in the haute couture embroidery department. When Karl Lagerfeld resumed his work at Chloé from 1992 to 1997, Viard accompanied him as his right-hand woman. She then became haute couture coordinator at Chanel, took over as head of ready-to-wear in 2000, and was eventually appointed head of Chanel's creative studio.
In May 2018, Viard first appeared alongside Lagerfeld for the closing applause of Chanel's 2019 Cruise collection, and she also appeared with Lagerfeld at subsequent Chanel fashion shows. In January 2019, when Chanel announced that Lagerfeld was "tired," Viard took the final applause alone at the Chanel Haute Couture fashion show, sparking speculation about Lagerfeld's health. Lagerfeld's final Chanel collection was presented at the Grand Palais on March 5, 2019, with a moment of silence for the deceased.
Chanel appointed Viard as artistic director of Chanel fashion collections in February 2019 and Eric Pfrunder, with the company since 1983, as artistic director of Chanel's image department (advertising, marketing, events, etc.). Viard presented her first own Chanel collection with the 2020 Resort Collection at the Grand Palais on May 3, 2019.
