The History of Chanel

Before ‘girl boss’ culture, or the rise of so-called ‘she-EOs’, Coco Chanel was one of the original female entrepreneurs, establishing herself in a male-dominated industry and in the process creating one of the world’s best known and most enduring brands.

Often credited as the originator of the ‘little black dress’, Coco Chanel’s influence on fashion can be felt to this day. Her emphasis on simplicity, quality, and luxury ignited a movement that spanned the decades; for the Chanel woman, timeless elegance and a capsule wardrobe of carefully selected items is the goal — a style over fashion aesthetic.

It’s an approach that has gained momentum once again in recent years, as climate change and sustainability have come to the fore, and consumers turn away from fast fashion.

Under the creative direction of Karl Lagerfeld, the brand expanded and reinvented itself for the modern age. Mixing heritage with pop culture, the conservative with the radical — Chanel was born again and won a new generation of fans across the globe. 

Here we’ll explore the remarkable journey and enduring impact of the iconic Chanel brand and, of course, the woman who started it all, Coco Chanel.

Coco Chanel's Story

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel (known more widely as Coco) was born in 1883 and her lifetime saw great changes in Europe, including the second industrial revolution (during which new technologies like the sewing machine made clothing manufacturing easier, faster and cheaper), the first wave of the feminist movement, two World Wars and great economic and social changes as a result.

The style she would go on to pioneer would heavily influence fashion for decades to come, but her early life gave little sign of the fashion revolutionary she would later become. 

The sad loss of her mother at an early age and abandonment by her father resulted in her spending many years being cared for by nuns — which is perhaps why black and white formed such an integral part of her design aesthetic later on. 

Gabrielle left the nunnery at 18 and made her living as a sales assistant, a seamstress and on the stage, as a singer in Moulins. One of signature songs was called "Qui qu'a vu Coco?”, which is reportedly where her nickname originated. 

By 23, she had fallen for Étienne Balsan, a wealthy textile heir with whom she lived at his château in Royallieu. It was during this time that she discovered her talent for hat making and she later moved to Paris to further her talents, before founding her first shop in Deauville in 1914. 

The opening of a high fashion showroom in Biarritz in 1916 cemented her position as couturière to the wealthy and later brought her to Paris, where her first boutique was established at 31 Rue de Cambon in 1920. 

What followed was a long and illustrious career, during which she would revolutionize fashion, bringing a new sense of freedom for women who had previously been locked in cages of corsets and crinolines, and a softness and elegance that had never been seen before. 

The Little Black Dress

The little black dress is today seen as a wardrobe staple, a versatile style that no fashionable woman can live without — but it wasn’t always that way.

While it’s true that black had been worn in formal and semi-formal settings for decades prior, Chanel’s approach was transformative. 

First featured on the cover of Vogue in October 1926, Coco Chanel’s first little black dress was long-sleeved, belted and low-waisted. Its simplicity set it apart from the preceding trends which had, up to that point, been more colourful and fussy. 

Black was traditionally seen as a colour of mourning or something servants would wear, but in Chanel’s hands — and accessorised by a simple string of pearls or a cloche hat — it signified a new kind of freedom.

Likening the dress to the dependable and ubiquitous Ford motorcar, Vogue declared that the LBD would become "a sort of uniform for all women of taste" — and so it was.

This iconic fashion piece has since been moulded to fit many cultural touchstones in the eras that followed, from the ‘femmes fatales’ of the 1940s and 50s, to the shorter ‘mod’ styles of the 60s, the high octane glamour of the 80s and later worn with combat boots for a grungier look in the 90s — there has been a little black dress for every era — and for every woman. 

Chanel No. 5 Perfume

If the little black dress is the look for every era, then Chanel No.5 is almost certainly the fragrance that accompanies it, representing pure olfactory elegance.

The iconic scent remains the most famous perfume in the world, but its creation is not only down to strong business acumen and one of the best noses in the business — it was also written in the stars. 

In 1921 Coco Chanel tasked Ernest Beaux, a famous perfumer from Grasse (the home of French fragrance) with creating a signature scent that would compliment her new designs. 

Famously superstitious, Chanel’s lucky number was five — she always presented her collections on the fifth day of the month — and so when Beaux presented her with a selection of small glass vials containing sample scents numbered 1 to 5 and 20 to 24 for approval, she of course chose number five. “We will let this sample number five keep the name it has already,” she is reported to have said, “it will bring good luck.”

The inspiration for Chanel No.5 was the flapper girls of the 1920s and the newly liberated female spirit they represented. Its complex scent profile, with top notes of citrus and base notes of vanilla, amber and patchouli, were a far cry from the simpler floral fragrances that had been popular prior to its launch — the idea was to create something deliberately complex and modern. 

Unfortunately the story of this iconic scent proved to be likewise complex. The first bottles were sold only in Chanel boutiques to select clients but in 1924 Coco Chanel entered a deal with the perfume house Bourjois to create a new company, Perfumes Chanel. 

Bourjois’ owners, the Wertheimer brothers, would manage production, marketing and distribution of Chanel No.5. in exchange for a 70% share of the company, with Théophile Bader, founder of the Paris department store Galeries Lafayette, taking 20%, leaving Coco Chanel with only a 10% share. Chanel would later fall out with the Wertheimers, working for more than 20 years to regain full control of the perfumes business. 

Chanel’s initial marketing strategy for the fragrance was through word of mouth — the perfume was not advertised until the 1940s. By 1952 the product’s place in pop culture was crystallised when Marilyn Monroe appeared in a cover story for Life magazine, answering a question on what she wore to bed with the now legendary quote: “I only wear Chanel No.5.”

The power of celebrity would indeed prove an enduring pull for customers, with famous faces such as Catherine Deneuve, Nicole Kidman, Gisele Bündchen, Marion Cotillard and even Brad Pitt being called in to spread the scent’s appeal far and wide. 

The lasting impact of Chanel No.5, much like its eponymous fashion house, is one of timeless elegance. Coco Chanel once said, “fashion fades, only style remains the same” — and clearly her most famous fragrance will always be in style. 

Chanel's Enduring Symbols: Pearls and Quilted Bags

Chanel’s signature pearls and quilted handbags have become enduring symbols of luxury and sophistication, often imitated but never duplicated. These timeless accessories make the ideal accompaniments to her form freeing, modern designs — a clash of the old and new, the conservative and the libertarian. 

In yet another first, in 1955 Coco Chanel designed the 2.55 Flap — the first bag made for women to come with a shoulder strap. Much like the practical ‘Ford motorcar’ of dresses she had designed in the decades prior, this new accessory represented functionality, comfort and  effortless elegance for the women that wore it.  

It caused a scandal since it was a rebellious departure from the traditional clutch bag, giving women both hands with which to strike a pose for the first time. From the chain strap, to the hidden zip pocket and back slip — so many elements of this design, once new and revolutionary, are now commonplace in handbag design, and we have Coco Chanel to thank for it. 

For a woman as superstitious as Coco Chanel, it is perhaps surprising that pearls would become her signature jewellery — after all, as folklore would have it ‘pearls are for tears’. For Chanel, however, they represented power.

“Chanel used jewellery to display her authority, as well as her social supremacy,” wrote British writer Justine Picardie, author of Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life.

She was famed for wearing precious gems, pearls and emeralds, casually draped over tweeds and knitwear in defiance of tradition — and where Chanel led the way, other wealthy women followed. 

In the 1960s Coco Chanel employed the talents of master jeweller Robert Goossens to expand her existing Chanel Jewellery line with a collection of costume jewellery, elevating the ‘faux’ with visually striking designs. 

Pearls have since become the house signature of Chanel, alongside its signature interlocking CC necklace. This style code was reinterpreted during Karl Lagerfeld’s reign as creative director, with many pearl embellished collections sashaying down runways and red carpets over the years. 

Chanel's Legacy in Modern Fashion

Chanel’s design legacy continues to inspire modern fashion trends because she was a pioneer. Coco Chanel was responsible for so many style firsts, but perhaps that was a reflection of the time she existed in, as well as her obvious talents. 

She herself once said, “fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”

What was happening when Coco Chanel first emerged from that nunnery and began her career was the emancipation of women — of Chanel herself, and those in society around her. Her interpretation of this, through her designs, is what resonated with the women who wore them. 

Freed from restrictive corsets and garments designed to keep them decorative, seen but not heard, women finally began to have a voice. Her minimalist, practical designs were at once elegant and revolutionary. 

She did not sacrifice beauty for functionality; rather, in Chanel’s world, the two things were harmonious. She launched so many timeless trends precisely because her designs were of her time; one of newfound freedom and seismic change. 

By employing style staples such as a Breton tops, a pearl necklace, a little black dress, a quilted bag or a well tailored suit, today’s women can give voice to their own signature style — in defiance of whatever we are told is in fashion right now.

List of Chanel’s Creative Directors: Karl Lagerfeld's Impact

When Karl Lagerfeld joined Chanel in 1983, the brand was in decline. Following the death of Coco Chanel in 1971 and despite its notoriety for innovation, it had become stale.  

Having worked his magic at Chloé and Fendi, he was tasked with reinvigorating the Chanel brand. His approach was to honour the brand’s heritage but evolve it. Vogue’s Hamish Brown said Lagerfeld, “set out to change the fashion world by making something old, new again.” 

He used the DNA of the Chanel brand — the LBD, quilting, pearls, gold chains, tweed — to engineer a new creation. He is also credited with originating the house’s now ubiquitous double-C logo, putting Chanel herself front and centre of his vision for the house. 

Under Lagerfeld’s creative direction, the house embraced pop culture in new and exciting ways. He maintained close links with artists, musicians and photographers, and his immersive themed runway shows trod a line between theatre and fashion with elaborate sets featuring at various times a larger than life carousel at the Grand Palais, a grocery store, an airport terminal and even a space station. 

His bold and daring approach worked; under Lagerfeld Chanel became one of the most profitable and influential brands in the world. His modern revitalization of Chanel brought the label to a whole new generation of fashion lovers and saw great expansion across the globe, with Asia becoming its most profitable region. 

Lagerfeld’s distinctive appearance also led to him becoming a brand in his own right; with his monochrome suit, white ponytail, sunglasses, he was instantly recognisable. Even his cat, Choupette, achieved notoriety and an accessories collection of her own, such was his star power.

Continuing the Legacy after Karl Lagerfeld: Virginie Viard

Following Karl Lagerfeld’s death in 2019, Virginie Viard was promoted to artistic director at Chanel. She first began working at Chanel in 1987, joining the brand’s embroidery division, later becoming director of Chanel’s creation studio, overseeing at least ten collections alongside Lagerfeld. 

Lagerfeld referred to Viard as “my right arm and my left arm” and so her appointment came as little surprise to followers of the brand, particularly since it was Viard who took the bow in Lagerfeld’s place at the end of Chanel’s January 2019 couture show amid news of his illness. 

Reviewing her first solo collection in Fall 2019, Vogue summarised that while she hadn’t departed dramatically from the house’s existing style, “in place of Lagerfeld’s hard-edged geometry... Viard brought a new softness and ease to the Chanel silhouette, reflecting her woman’s perspective and something of the insouciance that Chanel herself believed in.”

Her latest collection balances the brand’s soft femininity with more of a playful, rock-and-roll edge, retaining a restrained colour palette and focusing on the fabrication and detail that make these pieces feel special.

Chanel's Global Influence

With more than 310 boutiques worldwide, around 20,000 employees and a reported revenue of approximately $17bn, Chanel remains a fashion force to be reckoned with. The US, China and France represent a third of Chanel’s sales globally, its enduring global influence a result, perhaps, of the house’s commitment to luxury.

New fragrances are released only every decade rather than once a year like its competitors, while the craftsmanship of all its products, including ready to wear, means price points remain high, keeping the brand exclusive.  

It remains globally renowned as a symbol of luxury and timeless elegance; a Chanel item is a solid investment for lovers of fashion, something you’ll wear for years to come and pass to your daughters. 

Indeed, Kim Kardashian has famously collected a 30,000 piece archive of rare Chanel items and even asked her mother Kris Jenner to leave a bag gifted to her by Lagerfeld for her in her Will.

As well as its bags and couture being passed between generations of women, the company itself is now in the hands of one; the arrival of Leena Nair as CEO in 2022 signalled a determination for the brand to continue being a trailblazer.

Currently just 29 of the top 500 global companies ranked by revenue have female CEOs, and now Chanel joins this exclusive set. Nair is only the second female chief executive in the company’s 113 year history. 

“As global CEO, my goal is to ensure that our iconic house continues to be a beacon of inspiration for the next 100 years,” she told the Financial Times. “And that means constantly investing in disruptive capabilities.”

Even at its current advanced age, Chanel continues to innovate, disrupt and inspire. 

Incorporating Chanel's Essence & Styling Tips

Coco Chanel has many famous aphorisms but perhaps one of the best known is, “a girl should be two things: classy and fabulous”. 

Today’s Chanel woman is inspired by the past — but also bold enough to embrace the future. Classic fabrics such as tweed, wool and silk can be reimagined when styled anew with leather or denim. Gold and pearl jewellery can be stuffy — but they can also be edgy depending on how you apply them.

A look can be elevated by keeping the colour palette monochrome and the lines minimalistic. The key to elegance, however, is to ensure the proportions are correct; as Coco Chanel once said “fashion is about architecture. It is a matter of proportions”. 

A well fitting jacket, a ‘just right’ hemline and ensuring your clothes are neither too tight nor too baggy are what takes your look from ‘high street’ to high end. The focus should be on elegance, refinement and quality accessories if you want to achieve a Chanel inspired look.

Embracing Timelessness: Coco Chanel's Philosophy

If there’s one word that summarises Coco Chanel’s personal fashion philosophy, it’s consistency. Despite her colourful personal life and many aristocratic love affairs, when it came to her style, she was fiercely committed and her timeless individuality is now widely replicated. 

Her designs took inspiration from menswear, with her two piece suits being at once formal yet relaxed in their fit. She prized simplicity, elegance and comfort above all.

Coats with loose silhouettes, tweed suits, cloche hats, slingback shoes and pearls were her on duty style staples, but privately at her home in the picturesque French Riviera she would relax in loose fitting trousers and Breton tops, her hair artfully arranged in a delicate chignon. 

The widespread ideal of ‘chic French girl’ originates with Coco Chanel — she is the ultimate embodiment of the kind of ‘style before fashion’ approach that is now admired the world over.

“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different,” she once stated, and so she encouraged women to be bold, to dress for how they feel — and how they want to feel.

Final Words: Chanel's Lasting Impact

The legacy and influence of Chanel reaches far beyond fashion, fragrance and beauty — her passion for making garments for women that were practical and enabled freedom of movement and expression were part of a wider cultural shift that had begun to occur at the time. She popularised trousers and helped to free women from the tyranny of the corset.

Feminism didn’t exist as we know it when Chanel began making clothes — but as women began to make greater strides in society in the decades that followed, they did it in greater comfort thanks, in part, to her contribution to fashion.

The hallmarks of Chanel — her monochromatic colour palette, minimalist approach to design and focus on quality and style over trends — remain indelibly etched in the public consciousness. It will forever be intertwined with the mythical ‘cool French girl’ aesthetic that pervades to this day.

Coco Chanel, it could be argued, was the original influencer. Long before the internet was invented, she understood the power of authenticity — she created clothes that she wanted to wear, and she lived her brand. Her timeless inspiration remains a source of joy and power for fashion lovers of all ages.