True Religion Brand Jeans is an American clothing company established in 2002 by Jeff Lubell and Kym Gold and is based in Vernon, California .
81-480: True Religion brand designer jeans are manufactured from premium denim . They also make designer clothing, some of which is made in the United States . In 2009, True Religion was sold in about 900 boutiques and specialty stores in 50 countries on six continents. In May 2021, the company owned 50 retail stores in 30 countries. Unusually, the brand began with the 2002 production of about 14,000 pairs of jeans, being,
162-531: A "less is more" aesthetic. In 1931, while in Monte Carlo Chanel became acquainted with Samuel Goldwyn . She was introduced through a mutual friend, the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich , cousin to the last tsar of Russia, Nicholas II . Goldwyn offered Chanel a tantalising proposition. For the sum of a million dollars (approximately US$ 75 million today), he would bring her to Hollywood twice
243-523: A Christian French businessman and industrialist. At war's end, Amiot returned Parfums Chanel to the hands of the Wertheimers. During the period directly following the end of World War II, the business world watched with interest and some apprehension the ongoing legal wrestle for control of Parfums Chanel . Interested parties in the proceedings were cognizant that Chanel's Nazi affiliations during wartime, if made public knowledge, would seriously threaten
324-613: A Nazi spy. After the liberation, she was known to have been interviewed in Paris by Malcolm Muggeridge , who at the time was an officer in British military intelligence, about her relationship with the Nazis during the occupation of France. In late 2014, French intelligence agencies declassified and released documents confirming Coco Chanel's role with Germany in World War II. Working as a spy, Chanel
405-479: A boutique in Deauville , financed by Arthur Capel, where she introduced deluxe casual clothing suitable for leisure and sport. The fashions were constructed from humble fabrics such as jersey and tricot , at the time primarily used for men's underwear. The location was a prime one, in the center of town on a fashionable street. Here Chanel sold hats, jackets, sweaters, and the marinière , the sailor blouse. Chanel had
486-407: A corporate entity, Parfums Chanel , and the Wertheimers agreed to provide full financing for the production, marketing, and distribution of Chanel No. 5. The Wertheimers would receive seventy per cent of the profits, and Théophile Bader twenty per cent. For ten per cent of the stock, Chanel licensed her name to Parfums Chanel and withdrew from involvement in business operations. Later, unhappy with
567-612: A dance-opera; Orphée and Oedipe Roi . In 1922, at the Longchamps races, Théophile Bader , founder of the Paris Galeries Lafayette , introduced Chanel to businessman Pierre Wertheimer . Bader was interested in selling Chanel No. 5 in his department store. In 1924, Chanel made an agreement with the Wertheimer brothers, Pierre and Paul, directors since 1917 of the eminent perfume and cosmetics house Bourjois . They created
648-581: A fashion boutique , featuring clothing, hats, and accessories, later expanded to offer jewellery and fragrances. By 1927, Chanel owned five properties on the rue Cambon, buildings numbered 23 to 31. In the spring of 1920, Chanel was introduced to the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky by Sergei Diaghilev , impresario of the Ballets Russes . During the summer, Chanel discovered that the Stravinsky family sought
729-584: A former Prussian Army officer and attorney general, who was also known as "Sparrow" among his friends and colleagues. Dincklage was also a collaborator for the German SD; his superiors being Walter Schellenberg and Alexander Waag in Berlin. Chanel and Dincklage were to report to Schellenberg at the RSHA, with a plan that Chanel had proposed to Dincklage: she, Coco Chanel, was to meet Churchill and persuade him to negotiate with
810-407: A mutual accommodation, renegotiating the original 1924 contract. On 17 May 1947, Chanel received wartime profits from the sale of Chanel No. 5, an amount equivalent to some US$ 12 million in 2022 valuation. Her future share would be two per cent of all Chanel No. 5 sales worldwide (projected to gross her $ 34 million a year as of 2022), making her one of the richest women in the world at the time
891-580: A one-room lodging in the town of Brive-la-Gaillarde . When Gabrielle was 11, Jeanne died at the age of 32. The children did not attend school. Her father sent his two sons to work as farm labourers and sent his three daughters to the convent of Aubazine , which ran an orphanage. Its religious order, the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Mary, was "founded to care for the poor and rejected, including running homes for abandoned and orphaned girls". It
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#1732855564217972-470: A person or brand. It is often considered luxury clothing, known for its high quality and haute couture appeal, made for the general public and bearing the label of a renowned designer. Licensing designer names has been a common practice within the fashion industry since the 1970s. Designer clothing includes a wide range of apparel, such as designer jeans, which can often cost several hundred dollars. Designer clothing originally referred to apparel created by
1053-495: A place to live, having left the Russian Soviet Republic after the war. She invited them to her new home, Bel Respiro , in the Paris suburb of Garches , until they could find a suitable residence. They arrived at Bel Respiro during the second week of September and remained until May 1921. She developed a romantic relationship with Igor Stravinsky during this time, but the affair was brief. Chanel also guaranteed
1134-419: A specific designer. The definition has since expanded to include designs licensed by a designer or company. Licensing designer names was pioneered by designers like Pierre Cardin in the 1960s and has been a common practice within the fashion industry since the 1970s. Designer clothing is often expensive, luxury apparel known for its high quality and haute couture appeal, made for the general public and bearing
1215-638: A virtual tour de force", and the Prince "had a great romantic moment together". In 1927, the Duke of Westminster gave Chanel a parcel of land he had purchased in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin on the French Riviera. Chanel built a villa here, which she called La Pausa ('restful pause'), hiring the architect Robert Streitz. Streitz's concept for the staircase and patio contained design elements inspired by Aubazine ,
1296-429: A year to design costumes for his stars. Chanel accepted the offer. Accompanying her on her first trip to Hollywood was her friend, Misia Sert. En route to California from New York, travelling in a white train carriage luxuriously outfitted for her use, Chanel was interviewed by Collier's magazine in 1932. She said that she had agreed to go to Hollywood to "see what the pictures have to offer me and what I have to offer
1377-733: Is said that Capel's sartorial style influenced the conception of the Chanel look. The bottle design for Chanel No. 5 had two probable origins, both attributable to her association with Capel. It is believed Chanel adapted the rectangular, bevelled lines of the Charvet toiletry bottles he carried in his leather travelling case or she adapted the design of the whisky decanter Capel used. She so much admired it that she wished to reproduce it in "exquisite, expensive, delicate glass". The couple spent time together at fashionable resorts such as Deauville , but despite Chanel's hopes that they would settle together, Capel
1458-407: The Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia . They had a romantic interlude, and maintained a close association for many years afterward. By 1919, Chanel was registered as a couturière and established her maison de couture at 31 rue Cambon, Paris. In 1918, Chanel purchased the building at 31 rue Cambon, in one of the most fashionable districts of Paris. In 1921, she opened an early incarnation of
1539-477: The Great Recession , premium denim was one of the fastest-growing categories in the apparel industry, and there seemed to be no limit to what customers would pay for the latest label, fit, finish, or wash. Americans purchased US$ 59.2 billion worth of jeans in 2018, with over 450 million pairs sold, according to Alexander Eser. However, only about 1% of jeans sold in the U.S. that year cost more than $ 50. Since
1620-500: The Hotel Ritz . It was noteworthy as the preferred place of residence for upper-echelon German military staff. During this time, she had a romantic liaison with Baron Hans Günther von Dincklage , a German aristocrat and member of Dincklage noble family . He served as diplomat in Paris and was a former Prussian Army officer and attorney general who had been an operative in military intelligence since 1920, who eased her arrangements at
1701-402: The "Great Recession," the landscape for premium jeans has changed. "Charging $ 600 for jeans for no reason at all — those days are over," said You Nguyen, the senior vice president of women's merchandising and design for Levi Strauss & Company . The difference between $ 300 jeans and $ 30 jeans often comes down to factors such as fabric quality, hardware, washes, design details, abrasions, and
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#17328555642171782-681: The 1920s. Her couture house closed in 1939, with the outbreak of World War II . Chanel stayed in France during the Nazi German occupation and collaborated with the occupiers and the Vichy puppet regime . Declassified documents revealed that she had collaborated directly with the Nazi intelligence service, the Sicherheitsdienst . One plan in late 1943 was for her to carry an SS peace overture to Churchill to end
1863-479: The Côte Basque, close to wealthy Spanish clients, was a playground for the moneyed set and those exiled from their native countries by the war. The Biarritz shop was installed not as a store-front, but in a villa opposite the casino. After one year of operation, the business proved to be so lucrative that in 1916 Chanel was able to reimburse Capel's original investment. In Biarritz Chanel met an expatriate aristocrat,
1944-616: The Duke of Westminster and royals such as Edward, Prince of Wales . In Monte Carlo in 1923, at age forty, Chanel was introduced by Lombardi to the vastly wealthy Duke of Westminster, Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor , known to his intimates as "Bendor". The duke lavished Chanel with extravagant jewels, costly art and a home in London's prestigious Mayfair district. His affair with Chanel lasted ten years. The duke, an outspoken antisemite , intensified Chanel's inherent antipathy toward Jews. He shared with her an expressed homophobia . In 1946, Chanel
2025-639: The French general labour strike of 1936. In closing her couture house, Chanel made a definitive statement of her political views. Her dislike of Jews, reportedly sharpened by her association with society elites, had solidified her beliefs. She shared with many of her circle a conviction that Jews were a threat to Europe because of the Bolshevik government in the Soviet Union. During the German occupation, Chanel resided at
2106-655: The German cause as early as 1941 and worked for General Walter Schellenberg , chief of the German intelligence agency Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service; SD) and the military intelligence spy network Abwehr (Counterintelligence) at the Reich Security Main Office ( Reichssicherheitshauptamt ; RSHA) in Berlin . At the end of the war, Schellenberg was tried by the Nuremberg Military Tribunal , and sentenced to six years' imprisonment for war crimes. He
2187-633: The Germans. In late 1943 or early 1944, Chanel and her SS superior, Schellenberg, who had a weakness for unconventional schemes, devised a plan to get Britain to consider a separate peace to be negotiated by the SS. When interrogated by British intelligence at the war's end, Schellenberg maintained that Chanel was "a person who knew Churchill sufficiently to undertake political negotiations with him". For this mission, code-named Operation Modellhut , they also recruited Vera Bate Lombardi. Count Joseph von Ledebur-Wicheln,
2268-483: The Prince of Wales, Edward VIII. The prince allegedly was smitten with Chanel and pursued her in spite of her involvement with the Duke of Westminster . Gossip had it that he visited Chanel in her apartment and requested that she call him "David", a privilege reserved only for his closest friends and family. Years later, Diana Vreeland , editor of Vogue , would insist that "the passionate, focused and fiercely-independent Chanel,
2349-665: The Ritz. Sleeping with the Enemy, Coco Chanel and the Secret War written by Hal Vaughan further solidifies the consistencies of the French intelligence documents describing Chanel as a "vicious antisemite" who praised Hitler. World War II, specifically the Nazi seizure of all Jewish-owned property and business enterprises, provided Chanel with the opportunity to gain the full monetary fortune generated by Parfums Chanel and its most profitable product, Chanel No. 5. The directors of Parfums Chanel ,
2430-418: The Wertheimers, were Jewish. Chanel used her position as an " Aryan " to petition German officials to legalise her claim to sole ownership. On 5 May 1941, she wrote to the government administrator charged with ruling on the disposition of Jewish financial assets. Her grounds for proprietary ownership were based on the claim that Parfums Chanel "is still the property of Jews" and had been legally "abandoned" by
2511-489: The actors looked like ambulant mummies or victims of some terrible accident." She was also involved in the costuming of Baccanale , a Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo production. The designs were made by Salvador Dalí. However, due to Britain's declaration of war on 3 September 1939, the ballet was forced to leave London. They left the costumes in Europe and were re-made, according to Dali's initial designs, by Karinska. In 1939, at
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2592-401: The arrangement, Chanel worked for more than twenty years to gain full control of Parfums Chanel . She said that Pierre Wertheimer was "the bandit who screwed me". One of Chanel's longest enduring associations was with Misia Sert , a member of the bohemian elite in Paris and wife of Spanish painter José-Maria Sert . It is said that theirs was an immediate bond of kindred souls, and Misia
2673-499: The attribute of bull-calves, falls over her brow all the way to the eyelids and dances with every maneuver of her head. In 1923, Vera Bate Lombardi , (born Sarah Gertrude Arkwright), reputedly the illegitimate daughter of the Marquess of Cambridge , offered Chanel entry into the highest levels of British aristocracy. It was an elite group of associations revolving around such figures as politician Winston Churchill , aristocrats such as
2754-444: The beginning of World War II, Chanel closed her shops, maintaining her apartment situated above the couture house at 31 Rue de Cambon. She said that it was not a time for fashion; as a result of her action, 4,000 female employees lost their jobs. Her biographer Hal Vaughan suggests that Chanel used the outbreak of war as an opportunity to retaliate against those workers who had gone on strike for higher wages and shorter work hours in
2835-480: The closure of 27 stores in the United States. In April 2020, the design company again filed for bankruptcy, closing 37 locations, resulting in a total of 49 stores remaining. The second bankruptcy was completed in November 2020, and the company was considered to have rebounded the following year. Designer clothing Designer clothing refers to apparel created by a specific fashion designer or licensed by
2916-572: The co-founder Lubell has remarked, contrary to the typical business model, in which "you make a sample line, go to market, get orders, and ship your production." The company adopted a business model in which everything was outsourced , depending on contractors "to do everything." Its flagship store opened in 2005, in Manhattan Beach, California . True Religion products are also sold at major department stores , including Von Maur , Nordstrom , Bloomingdales , Saks Fifth Avenue . In November 2019,
2997-524: The company's former president Michael Buckley was appointed CEO, returning to aid in recovery from bankruptcy. Subsequently, Buckley re-hired designer Zihaad Wells as creative director, who had, in late 2006, resigned from Levi's in Europe to join True Religion, also at Buckley's request. Following two bankruptcy filings, in 2017 and 2020, the brand closed some stores . The company appeared to rebound in 2021, with sales topping $ 235 million. True Religion
3078-567: The contract was renegotiated. In addition, Pierre Wertheimer agreed to an unusual stipulation proposed by Chanel herself: Wertheimer agreed to pay all of Chanel's living expenses—from the trivial to the large—for the rest of her life. Declassified archival documents unearthed by journalist Hal Vaughan reveal that the French Préfecture de Police had a document on Chanel in which she was described as "Couturier and perfumer. Pseudonym: Westminster. Agent reference: F 7124. Signalled as suspect in
3159-571: The country of manufacture. A "fancy" pair of jeans that has been treated with abrasions, extra washes, and other techniques to break down the denim and achieve a worn-in texture undergoes a certain amount of damage in the process. As a result, the expensive jeans may be more delicate than the cheaper ones. Jeans brands also distinguish themselves from season to season by using patented materials, such as rivets and stitching, and by applying special washes and distressing techniques. These methods may include dyeing, pressing, and even using sandpaper or drills on
3240-542: The dedicated support of two family members, her sister Antoinette, and her paternal aunt Adrienne, who was of a similar age. Adrienne and Antoinette were recruited to model Chanel's designs; on a daily basis the two women paraded through the town and on its boardwalks, advertising the Chanel creations. Chanel, determined to re-create the success she enjoyed in Deauville, opened an establishment in Biarritz in 1915. Biarritz, on
3321-517: The deluxe Hotel Ritz , which was also used as the headquarters of the German military. It was at the Hotel Ritz where she fell in love with Baron Hans Günther von Dincklage , working in the German embassy close to the Gestapo. When the Nazi occupation of France began, Chanel decided to close her store, claiming a patriotic motivation behind such decision. However, when she moved into the same Hotel Ritz that
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3402-402: The designer Elsa Schiaparelli . Schiaparelli's innovative designs, replete with playful references to surrealism , were garnering critical acclaim and generating enthusiasm in the fashion world. Feeling she was losing her avant-garde edge, Chanel collaborated with Jean Cocteau on his theatre piece Oedipe Rex . The costumes she designed were mocked and critically lambasted: "Wrapped in bandages
3483-499: The era) in a Moulins pavilion, La Rotonde . She was a poseuse , a performer who entertained the crowd between star turns. The money earned was what they managed to accumulate when the plate was passed. It was at this time that Gabrielle acquired the name "Coco" when she spent her nights singing in the cabaret, often the song, "Who Has Seen Coco?" She often liked to say the nickname was given to her by her father. Others believe "Coco" came from Ko Ko Ri Ko , and Qui qu'a vu Coco , or it
3564-639: The file" ( Pseudonyme: Westminster. Indicatif d'agent: F 7124. Signalée comme suspecte au fichier ). For Vaughan, this was a piece of revelatory information linking Chanel to German intelligence operations. Anti-Nazi activist Serge Klarsfeld declared, "Just because Chanel had a spy number doesn't necessarily mean she was personally involved. Some informers had numbers without being aware of it." (" Ce n'est pas parce que Coco Chanel avait un numéro d'espion qu'elle était nécessairement impliquée personnellement. Certains indicateurs avaient des numéros sans le savoir "). Vaughan establishes that Chanel committed herself to
3645-440: The gross profit margins for private-label jeans, which he manufactures for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. , Sears Holdings Corp. , and other retailers, are less than 20%, while the margins for his own premium lines range from 40% to 50%. Gabrielle Chanel Gabrielle Bonheur " Coco " Chanel ( / ʃ ə ˈ n ɛ l / shə- NEL , French: [ɡabʁijɛl bɔnœʁ kɔko ʃanɛl] ; 19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971)
3726-410: The illustrator and designer Paul Iribe . After her romance with Reverdy ended in 1926, they maintained a friendship that lasted some forty years. It is postulated that the legendary maxims attributed to Chanel and published in periodicals were crafted under the mentorship of Reverdy—a collaborative effort. A review of her correspondence reveals a complete contradiction between the clumsiness of Chanel
3807-456: The label of a well-known fashion designer . Brands are often used to identify designer clothing. However, designer clothing may not always be created by the founder of the company. For instance, the actual designer behind Chanel today is not its original founder, Gabrielle Chanel , but French designer Virginie Viard . The quality of the clothing and its degree of resemblance to the designer's original work can vary significantly depending on
3888-412: The letter writer and the talent of Chanel as a composer of maxims ... After correcting the handful of aphorisms that Chanel wrote about her métier , Reverdy added to this collection of "Chanelisms" a series of thoughts of a more general nature, some touching on life and taste, others on allure and love. Her involvement with Iribe was a deep one until his sudden death in 1935. Iribe and Chanel shared
3969-454: The licensee and the terms of the agreement made with the designer. Some agreements may limit the number of garment styles that can be produced, allowing the designer to veto any designs they find unappealing. Examples include: Designer clothing includes a wide range of apparel, such as designer jeans. Designer jeans are available at various price points, typically ranging in the hundreds of dollars, with some even approaching US$ 1,000. Before
4050-518: The new (1920) Ballets Russes production of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps ('The Rite of Spring') against financial loss with an anonymous gift to Diaghilev, said to be 300,000 francs. In addition to turning out her couture collections, Chanel threw herself into designing dance costumes for the Ballets Russes. In the years 1923–1937, she collaborated on productions choreographed by Diaghilev and dancer Vaslav Nijinsky , notably Le Train bleu ,
4131-555: The only child of her sister Julia-Berthe who had committed suicide, was Chanel's child by Balsan. In 1908, Chanel began an affair with one of Balsan's friends, Captain Arthur Edward 'Boy' Capel . In later years, Chanel reminisced of this time in her life: "two gentlemen were outbidding for my hot little body." Capel, a wealthy member of the English upper class, installed Chanel in an apartment in Paris, and financed her first shops. It
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#17328555642174212-429: The orphanage where Chanel spent her youth. When asked why she did not marry the Duke of Westminster, she is supposed to have said: "There have been several Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Chanel." During Chanel's affair with the Duke of Westminster in the 1930s, her style began to reflect her personal emotions. Her inability to reinvent the little black dress was a sign of such reality. She began to design
4293-546: The owners. She wrote: I have an indisputable right of priority ... the profits that I have received from my creations since the foundation of this business ... are disproportionate ... [and] you can help to repair in part the prejudices I have suffered in the course of these seventeen years. Chanel was not aware that the Wertheimers, anticipating the forthcoming Nazi mandates against Jews, had legally turned over control of Parfums Chanel in May 1940 to Félix Amiot ,
4374-544: The pictures". Chanel designed the clothing worn on screen by Gloria Swanson , in Tonight or Never (1931), and for Ina Claire in The Greeks Had a Word for Them (1932). Both Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich became private clients. Her experience with American film making left Chanel with a dislike for Hollywood's film business and a distaste for the film world's culture, which she called "infantile". Chanel's verdict
4455-480: The prior three years, True Religion shares had gained just 11.6% while shares in comparable luxury-goods companies VF Corporation , Ralph Lauren Corporation , and PVH Corp. had each more than doubled in value. Prior to the purchase, True Religion traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TRLG. True Religion filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 5, 2017, acknowledging that it had $ 534.7 million in liabilities and only $ 243.3 million in assets. It then announced
4536-510: The raw denim. Such processes can be particularly costly when done in the U.S., where factories must adhere to more stringent environmental and labor standards than in many low-cost nations. To be produced domestically in the United States, jeans must be priced at "$ 200-plus," according to Shelda Hartwell-Hale, a vice president at Directives West, an L.A.-based division of the fashion consulting firm Doneger Group. The profit margins on premium jeans can be substantial. One retail executive notes that
4617-481: The reputation and status of the Chanel brand. Forbes magazine summarised the dilemma faced by the Wertheimers: [it is Pierre Wertheimer's worry] how "a legal fight might illuminate Chanel's wartime activities and wreck her image—and his business." Chanel hired René de Chambrun , Vichy France prime minister Pierre Laval 's son-in-law, as her lawyer to sue Wertheimer. Ultimately, the Wertheimers and Chanel came to
4698-410: The same reactionary politics, Chanel financing Iribe's monthly, ultra-nationalist and anti-republican newsletter, Le Témoin , which encouraged a fear of foreigners and preached antisemitism. In 1936, one year after Le Témoin ceased publication, Chanel veered to the opposite end of the ideological continuum by financing Pierre Lestringuez's radical left-wing magazine Futur . The Chanel couture
4779-492: The war. Chanel began a liaison with a German diplomat/spy she had known before the war, Baron ( Freiherr ) Hans Günther von Dincklage . After the end of the war, Chanel was interrogated about her relationship with Dincklage, but she was not charged as a collaborator due to intervention by her friend—British prime minister Winston Churchill . When the war ended, Chanel moved to Switzerland before returning to Paris in 1954 to revive her fashion house. Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel
4860-452: Was "called Coco because she threw the most fabulous cocaine parties in Paris". The writer Colette , who moved in the same social circles as Chanel, provided a whimsical description of Chanel at work in her atelier, which appeared in Prisons et Paradis (1932): If every human face bears a resemblance to some animal, then Mademoiselle Chanel is a small black bull. That tuft of curly black hair,
4941-681: Was a French fashion designer and businesswoman . The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post- World War I era with popularising a sporty, casual chic as the feminine standard of style. She is the only fashion designer listed on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century . A prolific fashion creator, Chanel extended her influence beyond couture clothing into jewellery, handbags, and fragrance. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5 , has become an iconic product, and Chanel herself designed her famed interlocked-CC monogram, which has been in use since
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#17328555642175022-499: Was a lifestyle of self-indulgence. Balsan's wealth allowed the cultivation of a social set that revelled in partying and the gratification of human appetites, with all the implied accompanying decadence. Balsan showered Chanel with the baubles of "the rich life"—diamonds, dresses, and pearls. Biographer Justine Picardie, in her 2010 study Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life , suggests that the fashion designer's nephew, André Palasse, supposedly
5103-487: Was a lucrative business enterprise, employing 4,000 people by 1935. As the 1930s progressed, Chanel's place on the throne of haute couture was threatened. The boyish look and the short skirts of the 1920s flapper seemed to disappear overnight. Chanel's designs for film stars in Hollywood were not successful and had not enhanced her reputation as expected. More significantly, Chanel's star had been eclipsed by her premier rival,
5184-561: Was a stark, frugal life, demanding strict discipline. Placement in the orphanage may have contributed to Chanel's future career, as it was where she learned to sew. At age eighteen, Chanel, too old to remain at Aubazine, went to live in a boarding house for Catholic girls in the town of Moulins . Later in life, Chanel would retell the story of her childhood somewhat differently; she would often include more glamorous accounts, which were generally untrue. She said that when her mother died, her father sailed for America to seek his fortune, and she
5265-847: Was a terrible blow to me. In losing Capel, I lost everything. What followed was not a life of happiness, I have to say." Chanel had begun designing hats while living with Balsan, initially as a diversion that evolved into a commercial enterprise. She became a licensed milliner in 1910 and opened a boutique at 21 rue Cambon, Paris, named Chanel Modes . As this location already housed an established clothing business, Chanel sold only her millinery creations at this address. Chanel's millinery career bloomed once theatre actress Gabrielle Dorziat wore her hats in Fernand Nozière's play Bel Ami in 1912. Subsequently, Dorziat modelled Chanel's hats again in photographs published in Les Modes . In 1913, Chanel opened
5346-445: Was an allusion to the French word for kept woman , cocotte . As an entertainer, Chanel radiated a juvenile allure that tantalised the military habitués of the cabaret. In 1906, Chanel worked in the spa resort town of Vichy . Vichy boasted a profusion of concert halls, theatres, and cafés where she hoped to achieve success as a performer. Chanel's youth and physical charms impressed those for whom she auditioned, but her singing voice
5427-530: Was attracted to Chanel by "her genius, lethal wit, sarcasm and maniacal destructiveness, which intrigued and appalled everyone". Both women were convent-schooled, and maintained a friendship of shared interests and confidences. They also shared drug use. By 1935, Chanel had become a habitual drug user, injecting herself with morphine on a daily basis: a habit she maintained to the end of her life. According to Chandler Burr 's The Emperor of Scent , Luca Turin related an apocryphal story in circulation that Chanel
5508-752: Was born in 1883 to Eugénie Jeanne Devolle Chanel, known as Jeanne, a laundrywoman , in the charity hospital run by the Sisters of Providence (a poorhouse ) in Saumur , Maine-et-Loire. She was Jeanne's second child with Albert Chanel; the first, Julia, had been born less than a year earlier. Albert Chanel was an itinerant street vendor who peddled work clothes and undergarments, living a nomadic life, travelling to and from market towns. The family resided in run-down lodgings. In 1884, he married Jeanne Devolle, persuaded to legitimate his children by her family who had "united, effectively, to pay Albert". At birth, Chanel's name
5589-413: Was credited as La Maison Chanel . Chanel introduced the left-wing Renoir to Luchino Visconti , aware that the shy Italian hoped to work in film. Renoir was favourably impressed by Visconti and brought him in to work on his next film project. Chanel was the mistress of some of the most influential men of her time, but she never married. She had significant relationships with the poet Pierre Reverdy and
5670-526: Was directly involved in a plan for the Third Reich to take control of Madrid. Such documents identify Chanel as an agent in the German military intelligence, the Abwehr. Chanel visited Madrid in 1943 to convince the British ambassador to Spain, Sir Samuel Hoare , a friend of Winston Churchill , about a possible German surrender once the war was leaning towards an Allied victory. One of the most prominent missions she
5751-500: Was entered into the official registry as "Chasnel". Jeanne was too unwell to attend the registration, and Albert was registered as "traveling". She went to her grave as Gabrielle Chasnel because to correct, legally, the misspelled name on her birth certificate would reveal that she was born in a poor house hospice. The couple had six children—Julia, Gabrielle, Alphonse (the first boy, born 1885), Antoinette (born 1887), Lucien, and Augustin (who died at six months) —and lived crowded into
5832-421: Was housing the German military, her motivations became clear to many. While many women in France were punished for " horizontal collaboration " with German officers, Chanel faced no such action. At the time of the French liberation in 1944, Chanel left a note in her store window explaining Chanel No. 5 to be free to all GIs. During this time, she fled to Switzerland to avoid criminal charges for her collaborations as
5913-558: Was involved in was Operation Modellhut ("Operation Model Hat"). Her duty was to act as a messenger from Hitler's Foreign Intelligence to Churchill, to prove that some of the Third Reich attempted peace with the Allies. In 1943, Chanel travelled to the RSHA in Berlin—the "lion's den"—with her liaison and "old friend", the German Embassy in Paris press attaché Baron Hans Günther von Dincklage,
5994-504: Was marginal and she failed to find stage work. Obliged to find employment, she took work at the Grande Grille , where as a donneuse d'eau she was one whose job was to dispense glasses of the purportedly curative mineral water for which Vichy was renowned. When the Vichy season ended, Chanel returned to Moulins, and her former haunt La Rotonde . She realised then that a serious stage career
6075-503: Was never faithful to her. Their affair lasted nine years. Even after Capel married an English aristocrat, Lady Diana Wyndham in 1918, he did not completely break off with Chanel. He died in a car accident on 22 December 1919. A roadside memorial at the site of Capel's accident is said to have been commissioned by Chanel. Twenty-five years after the event, Chanel, then residing in Switzerland, confided to her friend, Paul Morand, "His death
6156-415: Was not in her future. At Moulins, Chanel met a young French ex-cavalry officer and textile heir, Étienne Balsan . At the age of twenty-three, Chanel became Balsan's mistress, supplanting the courtesan Émilienne d'Alençon as his new favourite. For the next three years, she lived with him in his château Royallieu near Compiègne , an area known for its wooded equestrian paths and the hunting life. It
6237-406: Was purchased by TowerBrook Capital Partners on May 10, 2013. The acquisition provided shareholders a 52% premium to True Religion's share price on October 9, 2012. The stock had fallen 40% in 2012 up to October 9, 2012, due to a poor pre-Christmas sales in 2011, and concern that a shrinking number of shoppers were willing to purchase True Religion's high-priced jeans. Forbes also noted that, over
6318-430: Was quoted by her friend and confidant, Paul Morand , Homosexuals? ... I have seen young women ruined by these awful queers: drugs, divorce, scandal. They will use any means to destroy a competitor and to wreak vengeance on a woman. The queers want to be women—but they are lousy women. They are charming! Coinciding with her introduction to the duke was her introduction, again through Lombardi, to Lombardi's cousin,
6399-449: Was released in 1951 owing to incurable liver disease and took refuge in Italy. Chanel paid for Schellenberg's medical care and living expenses, financially supported his wife and family and paid for Schellenberg's funeral upon his death in 1952. Suspicions of Coco Chanel's involvement first began when German tanks entered Paris and began the Nazi occupation. Chanel immediately sought refuge in
6480-427: Was sent to live with two aunts. She also claimed to have been born a decade later than 1883 and that her mother had died when she was much younger than 11. Having learned to sew during her six years at Aubazine , Chanel found employment as a seamstress . When not sewing, she sang in a cabaret frequented by cavalry officers. Chanel made her stage debut singing at a cafe-concert (a popular entertainment venue of
6561-480: Was that "Hollywood is the capital of bad taste ... and it is vulgar." Ultimately, her design aesthetic did not translate well to film. The New Yorker speculated that Chanel left Hollywood because "they told her her dresses weren't sensational enough. She made a lady look like a lady. Hollywood wants a lady to look like two ladies." Chanel went on to design the costumes for several French films, including Jean Renoir 's 1939 film La Règle du jeu , in which she
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