Coco Chanel

Born

1883 · Saumur, France

Roots

French

Family

Poverty

Her mother died when she was 11; her peddler father left the children at an orphanage, where nuns taught her to sew.

Education

Convent orphanage at Aubazine; no formal schooling beyond it

Started with

Backer's loan

Her first hat shop was financed by Arthur Capel; she repaid him from profits.

Affiliations & societies

Abwehr (German military intelligence)Reported

Declassified French files list her as wartime agent “Westminster,” F-7124; historians debate the extent of her role.

Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1. 1895 · age 11
   The orphanage

   After her mother's death, raised by nuns at Aubazine, who teach her to sew.

2. 1910 · age 26
   First shop

   A Paris millinery financed by Arthur Capel; boutiques in Deauville and Biarritz follow.

3. 1921 · age 37
   Chanel No. 5

   The perfume becomes the house's engine; she later fights the Wertheimers for decades over her 10% share.

4. 1926 · age 43
   The little black dress

   Vogue compares its universality to the Model T.

5. 1939 · age 56
   Closes the couture house

   At the outbreak of war; lives at the Ritz through the occupation.

6. 1945 · age 61
   Swiss exile

   Leaves France amid collaboration accusations; stays away nearly a decade.

7. 1954 · age 70
   Comeback

   The Paris press pans the return collection; American buyers embrace it, and the house recovers.