Summary
Highlights
The episode begins by highlighting Gabrielle Coco Chanel's death in January 1971 and the initial plan for a national tribute. This tribute was nearly canceled due to revelations of her affair with a Nazi spy, Baron Hans Gunter Von Dinklage, and her work as an agent for Germany's Military Intelligence service during WWII. Despite these exposures, the Chanel brand remained largely untarnished, prompting the hosts to 'tarnish' Coco's legacy further.
Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel was born into poverty in 1883. After her mother's death at age 11, she and her sisters were sent to a convent orphanage, then a Catholic boarding school. The hosts explain that this environment, coupled with the antisemitism prevalent in France due to the Dreyfus Affair, contributed to Chanel's lifelong hatred of Jews, described by biographer Hal Vaughn as 'noxious and notorious'.
At 20, Gabrielle began working as a seamstress and a café singer, where she earned the nickname 'Coco,' possibly a reference to a song she sang or a slang term for a mistress. She became involved with wealthy textile heir Etienne Balsan, who introduced her to high society. Later, she met British Captain Arthur 'Boy' Capel, who became her lover and financial backer for her millinery business and later her first boutique, Chanel Modes. She was known for using men's underwear fabrics and designing comfortable, movement-friendly clothing.
Coco proved to be a shrewd businesswoman. She enlisted her sister and aunt to model her clothing in the resort town of Deauville, creating a viral marketing campaign. With Capel's backing, she opened another successful boutique in Biarritz, eventually repaying his initial investment in full within a year, demonstrating her business acumen and increasing financial independence.
In 1919, Boy Capel died in a car accident, a significant blow to Chanel, who also discovered he had left money to his wife and another mistress. Despite this, she continued to thrive in Paris's Roaring Twenties. In the 1930s, she developed a morphine addiction with her friend Misia Sert. In 1921, she launched Chanel No. 5, a wildly successful perfume. Her business arrangement with the Wertheimer brothers, who received a large majority of profits, became a source of lifelong contention for Chanel.
Throughout the 1920s, Coco had affairs with numerous celebrities and aristocrats, including Igor Stravinsky and Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, nicknamed 'Bendor.' Bendor, a notorious antisemite, further fueled Chanel's hatred of Jewish people. The episode reveals her increasingly hateful statements, stating she 'hated Jews and Chinese, and Jews more than Chinese'.
Bendor and Coco also shared similar homophobic views. Coco's strong homophobic statements are highlighted, though tempered by her close friendships with openly gay men like Jean Cocteau and Sergei Diaghilev, whose expenses she supported. This contradiction, and the possibility of her own bisexuality, adds complexity to her character, with the hosts speculating if her rants were targeted at specific individuals or a broader critique of their perceived 'tacky' behavior.
While living in England with Bendor, Coco continued to maintain her career despite his disapproval. She famously returned his unused checkbook to assert her independence. In a memorable incident, after Bendor invited another woman on a fishing trip, Coco retaliated by spending time with a former lover, driving Bendor into a jealous rage. Their relationship officially ended in 1929, reportedly with Coco dramatically throwing a valuable emerald he gave her into the ocean, symbolizing her independence and final break.