What Koko, who died in 1971, came up with will last us for many more years. Photo: Vyacheslav Prokofiev/TASS
When I entered this Parisian house near the Vendôme Column in the early 2000s, the hostess was long gone. The first floor shuddered with her, as it were, sterility, her cleanliness: each step of the spiral staircase was accompanied by a mirror to the ceiling. The stairs led to a dressing room and a small podium. Lots of light, almost no shadows. Solemnity, tall white callas on a coffee table where magazines are never put.
I was lucky: I was with the journalists who accompanied Lyudmila Putin on the trip. They let us see Coco Chanel’s apartment. An interesting point: if the first floor was completely mirrored, the apartment itself was an almost mirrorless place. One, oval, above the secretary. And so: plaster busts, many, many figurines of animals from different materials, screens and fans, oriental vases. Chandelier with crystal leaves, with the magic number “5”. She believed that this figure brings good luck.
When Mademoiselle Chanel moved here, her friends died one by one, of natural causes, of old age. She began to search for talismans for herself, warding off death. I remember the frog. And a couple of dogs, as if moving away from the fireplace. The talismans, of course, did not save her.
Coco decided to die at the Ritz Hotel, very close to the apartment, in front of the same Vendome column. It seems like an absolute mystery: so much time to look for a barrier against death, fill the apartment with talismans, and then move to the luxury of a hotel, beautiful, expensive, but impersonal, to die there.
He was born in an orphanage for the poor. Then he told the journalists about him, giving details: he was talking nonsense in a blue eye. In general, he invented a lot, especially after the Second World War. When the Germans occupied France, Coco behaved, to put it mildly, not very decently, he collaborated with the Nazis; then Churchill, who was her close friend of hers, rescued her. But anyway, for several years she was in disgrace, she was “cancelled”, and she had to wait for the moment when her sins would be forgotten. I went to Switzerland. She returned to Paris as a very old grande dame, the greatest fashion designer of the 20th century, forever changing all ideas about feminine elegance and Parisian elegance.
She died of a heart attack. An old lady who hated minis. Her little black dress covered her knees. And the smell of Chanel No. 5 perfume made me forget about everything. She turned scratchy jersey fabric, which seemed unsuitable for fashion shows, into gold; now, thanks to her, the interweaving of threads looks very elegant. All her ideas came back to her like gold, and about fragrances (#5 aldehyde, apparently, is immortal, but there are also #19, #22, and dozens of other scents invented during her lifetime). and after his death). . And the idea that two colors are enough for true elegance: black and white. And the phrase “Dress poorly, and the dress will be remembered; dress impeccably, and a woman will be remembered … ”Brought up in a monastery, she insisted that luxury is not synonymous with wealth, that even a poor woman can look perfect, there would be a sense of style.
People who have now bought the Chanel brand know how to flaunt the brand. But not new models. And not new ideas. However, what she, who died in 1971, came up with will be enough for us for many more years.
