Coco Chanel Lookbook | Timeless Fashion Icon
"Chanel No. 5, exclusively"
"What do you wear to bed?" Marilyn Monroe once answered, in a breath that became legendary, "Chanel No. 5, exclusively." This iconic reply embodies far more than a perfume: it symbolizes a certain idea of luxury, of intimacy elevated, of pure elegance. Through timeless creations such as the little black dress, the quilted handbag with a gold chain, the now-iconic two-tone pumps, or the androgynous-inspired suit, a fashion house has established itself as a benchmark of style. Founded in the early 20th century by a visionary woman, Gabrielle Chanel, this house has left its mark on the very fabric of modernity. A woman against the tide—resolute, courageous, and remarkably ahead of her time.
Gabrielle Chanel: A Childhood in Black and White
Gabrielle Chanel was born on August 19, 1883, in Saumur, France, into a modest family. Her father, Albert Chanel, was an itinerant peddler, and her mother, Jeanne Devolle, worked as a seamstress. From birth, Gabrielle was immersed in a world of hardship. Her childhood was difficult, marked by deprivation and the tragic loss of her mother when she was only twelve. This devastating event was followed by her father's abandonment of his children, who were scattered across various homes.
Gabrielle was sent to a stark orphanage in Aubazine, run by Cistercian nuns. Within its cold walls, the monastic clothing and strict order left a deep impression on her. She developed a fascination for simplicity, the rigor of lines, and the contrast of black and white. These early visual and emotional experiences laid the aesthetic foundation for her future style.
At eighteen, she began her training in sewing at Maison Grampayre, a workshop specializing in baby clothes. However, her early years remain shrouded in mystery—she herself later described them as "traumatic," often reinterpreting them in her stories with a touch of invention and poetry.
From Gabrielle to Coco: The Music Hall Before Fashion
At the dawn of the 20th century, Gabrielle refused to conform to the social mold that cast working-class women as frivolous and submissive. Determined to forge her own path, she frequented the Grand Café in Moulins, a social hub where military men, artists, elegant women, and young women in search of independence mingled.
She tried her hand at singing in modest cafés and cabarets, performing songs like “Who’s Seen Coco at the Trocadéro?” The refrain earned her the nickname Coco—a pseudonym that would accompany her throughout her life. But the stage, though entertaining, was only a stepping stone. Already, another ambition was taking root: to reinvent feminine elegance, far from the frills of the Belle Époque.
Through the music hall, Gabrielle learned about public gaze, posture, and the theatricality of appearance—all elements that would later feed into her vision of fashion, conceived as a self-presentation, always understated and liberated from convention.
The Formative Years: Boy Capel and the First Boutiques
Her meeting with Arthur "Boy" Capel, a wealthy and cultured British industrialist, was pivotal. He not only provided financial backing for her first boutique in Deauville in 1913 but also supported her quest for independence. Thanks to him, Gabrielle rose from the status of a kept woman to that of a businesswoman.
In her boutique, she boldly used jersey—a soft, simple fabric until then reserved for men’s underwear. In doing so, she revolutionized the female silhouette, liberating women from corsets and promoting freedom of movement, elegant ease, and comfort as expressions of modernity. The Chanel style began to take shape: stripped-down, geometric, practical.
Her love for Boy Capel was intense, passionate, but also tragic. His accidental death in 1919 left an indelible wound. She mourned in private, cloaked in black—a colour of loss, but also, in Chanel’s hands, the ultimate expression of dignity and elegance.
The Maison Chanel and the Invention of an Aesthetic
By 1915, buoyed by her success in Deauville, Chanel opened a couture house in Biarritz, a seaside resort favoured by high society during the war. There, she attracted an international, modern, and cosmopolitan clientele. Three years later, she established herself at 31 rue Cambon in Paris. This is where she built the Chanel empire. Her fashion was not decorative—it was functional, driven by a clear vision: a woman must be able to move, work, live, and love—freely.
Chanel championed a fluid silhouette, free of frills, finely structured. She invented an "allure" rather than just garments, rooting her style in refined simplicity. The little black dress, which she popularized in Vogue in 1926 as the “Ford of fashion,” became a staple. With her tweed suits, she often paired bold costume jewellery, creating a deliberate tension between classicism and extravagance. Chanel played with contrasts like a painter with colours—always precise, always impactful.
N°5: An Olfactory Manifesto
In 1921, Chanel undertook a bold project: to create a perfume in her image. She turned to Ernest Beaux, a perfumer of the Russian court, to design a groundbreaking fragrance. Together, they created N°5, an abstract, complex perfume with no identifiable floral notes, yet rich in sophisticated alchemy. The bottle—simple and angular—stood in stark contrast to the ornate vials of the era. Even the name—a mere number—marked a departure.
N°5 embodied a modern, elusive woman, ahead of her time. Chanel instantly understood that this perfume was not an accessory but an extension of her style, an invisible weapon of seduction. Its success was meteoric. Thanks to N°5, she became not just a renowned couturière but a visionary entrepreneur who grasped, before anyone else, that luxury must also appeal to the senses.
A Woman of Art and Intellect
Gabrielle Chanel was more than a fashion designer—she was an intellectual, an aesthete, a lover of literature and the arts. She avidly read the Symbolists, nourished herself with the poetry of Mallarmé, the insights of Reverdy, and the provocations of Cocteau. She mingled with the leading artistic circles: she knew Picasso, financed Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, and collaborated on the set design for Le Train Bleu, signed by Cocteau.
She opened her world to the avant-garde, but on her own terms. Her apartment on rue Cambon—still preserved today—is a cabinet of refined curiosities: camellias, Chinese screens, sculpted lions, ancient books, Byzantine crucifixes, baroque-framed mirrors… Each object tells a story, a fragment of her imagination. Chanel saw fashion as a total art form, an architecture of body and mind, in constant dialogue with culture.
War and Shadows: A Controversial Retreat
World War II marked a turning point. In 1939, Chanel closed her couture house. She moved into the Ritz, then requisitioned by the Nazis, and entered a controversial relationship with German officer Hans Gunther von Dincklage. This chapter of her life—surrounded by silence and ambiguity—tarnished her reputation. Suspicions of collaboration arose, though no conviction was ever issued.
After the Liberation, she went into self-imposed exile in Switzerland, leading a quiet, almost reclusive life for nearly a decade. This troubled period, often overlooked, reveals a complex reality: even icons can falter in the storms of history. Chanel, nonetheless, remained true to herself—continuing to sketch, to dream, to plan her return.
Chanel’s Return: A Late but Dazzling Renaissance
In 1954, at over 70 years old, Gabrielle Chanel made an unexpected comeback. France received her coldly—the press mocked her "outdated clothes." But across the Atlantic, the United States applauded her audacity. American women, seeking emancipation, identified with her assertive style.
Her tweed suit, with its clean lines and precise finishes, became the symbol of a new femininity: elegant yet active, free yet refined. Chanel dressed the icons of the era—from Jackie Kennedy to Romy Schneider—and once again conquered the fashion world. Her triumph was that of a woman who had always believed in her vision, despite criticism, setbacks, and heartbreak.
"Let my legend make its way. I wish it a good and long life!"
Gabrielle Chanel died on January 10, 1971, in her suite at the Ritz, surrounded by her sketches and fabrics. Until the end, she worked with the same rigor, preparing her next collection as if time still lay ahead. She was buried in Lausanne, Switzerland, her land of exile, and on her tomb rest five lions—symbols of strength, courage, and her zodiac sign, Leo. More than a designer, Chanel became a major figure of the 20th century. She established the idea that fashion could be a vehicle for emancipation, a form of self-assertion. Her style endures, reinvents itself, and transcends generations, eras, and continents. She said: “Fashion fades, only style remains the same.” Today, her words still resonate as a promise fulfilled.
Destination Haute Couture
In the spirit of timeless elegance, Gabrielle Chanel forged her own path: a vision freed from conventions, a liberated silhouette, and a mid-season collection designed for her clients vacationing under the sun. A hundred years later, her spirit lives on in our creations. COCO, our line of armchairs, draws bold and delicate inspiration from her legacy.
Designed for salty shores as well as hushed mountain peaks, these armchairs invite contemplation — on a terrace, in a suite, or in a winter lounge. With clean lines, a confident look, and noble materials with refined finishes: comfort becomes a signature, and aesthetics, a given.Imagined, designed, and crafted in our Norki workshops near Strasbourg, the COCO collection pays tribute to exceptional French craftsmanship.
Expert hands — those of our upholsterers and fur seamstresses — shape each piece like a work of art.
Lush velvet, sensual shearling, enveloping curves: COCO armchairs come in the color of your choice, like custom-made couture designed for your spaces.
