Word: chanel
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...after another, though she never married. One of her most persistent admirers was the Duke of Westminster, who employed three couriers running between London and Paris with their love letters. When he finally proposed, Coco turned him down: "There have been several Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Chanel...
...spring showings. He presented her two series, one numbered from 1 to 5. the other 20 to 24. Highly superstitious, Coco said: "I am going to show my collection on the fifth day of the fifth month. I'll choose No. 5." The elegant, evocative odor lingered, and Chanel No. 5 became the world's most famous perfume. Though she sold the perfume subsidiary in 1924. she still gets a royalty on every bottle sold...
...fabrics. They can be easily copied, cheaply mass-produced. Copied they were, and Coco loved it, refusing to join the cabal of other Paris designers who tried to prevent style piracy. "Thirty years ago," she says proudly, "I went to dinner at Giro's. I remember counting 23 Chanel dresses in the room. But I was sure of only one: mine. I found that a very pretty compliment...
...with the war coming on, Coco retired. In 1953, to boost lagging Chanel No. 5 sales, Pierre Wertheimer, owner of the perfumes, asked Coco to resume designing. Since then, she has proved that for all the random fads and seasonal excitements, perhaps the surest touch in fashion is still Chanel...
Such perfectionism comes high: $700 a suit to a private buyer, almost twice that much to a buyer who wants to copy the model for mass distribution. Even so, the House of Chanel loses money every year on its fashion division, which is carried by the perfume profits. Some 80% of Chanel sales are made abroad, and her clothes have been copied all over the world, right down to a U.S. cotton model retailing for $10. The secret of fashion is simple, says Coco: "One always begins by making dream dresses. Then one has to take away something. Always...