The Secrets of Coco Chanel. Truths Hidden for Years

Written by Marcus Renfell

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel built a fashion empire on the foundation of carefully hidden secrets from her past. Traumatic childhood in an orphanage, strategic romances with influential men, and controversial collaboration with Nazis during occupation composed a biography that the designer mystified and rewrote throughout her life.

Orphanhood and Lies About Origins

Gabrielle’s mother, laundress Jeanne Devolle, died of tuberculosis in 1895. The twelve-year-old girl then lost the only close person who cared for her. Her father Albert Chanel, a traveling merchant, abandoned her along with four siblings shortly after his wife’s death.

Gabrielle ended up in an orphanage run by nuns in Aubazine, where she spent seven years. The sisters taught her sewing, which later became the foundation of her career. The poverty and humiliation of this period were so painful that throughout her adult life she hid the truth about her origins.

Chanel created false stories about her past, claiming her father went to America seeking fortune. Illegitimate birth in 1883 in Saumur she also tried to cover up in official biographies. The truth about childhood was too shameful for a woman who built a brand based on elegance and sophistication.

Singer Career and Nickname Coco

After leaving the orphanage, eighteen-year-old Gabrielle took work as a seamstress in Moulins. Earnings from sewing weren’t enough for maintenance, so evenings she performed in cafés and cabarets. La Rotonde was one of the venues where she sang for the entertainment of wealthy patrons.

She gained the nickname Coco precisely through stage performances, performing popular songs Ko Ko Ri Ko and Qui qu’a vu Coco. The stage pseudonym stuck to her permanently and replaced the name Gabrielle. Under this very name she later entered fashion history as one of the most important designers of the 20th century.

In Moulins she met wealthy officer and heir Étienne Balsan, who became her first influential lover. She became his official mistress and moved to the Royallieu estate. There, out of boredom, she began designing hats for society ladies, which became the beginning of her fashion career.

Great Love and Business Financing

She met Arthur Boy Capel, an English industrialist and coal magnate, in Balsan’s circle. The wealthy polo player recognized her design talent and decided to finance her first boutiques. It was Capel who gave her capital to open a shop at 21 Rue Cambon in Paris in 1910.

Another boutique was established in the exclusive resort of Deauville in 1913 thanks to Capel’s continued support. For a decade he was her partner both in life and business, despite marrying English aristocrat Diana Wyndham in 1918. Chanel’s relationship with Capel continued, which was typical of arrangements in higher circles of that era.

A tragic car accident on December 22, 1919, took from Chanel the greatest love of her life. She went to the crash site, where she reportedly cried for hours and funded a roadside monument. She later said that losing Capel she lost everything that mattered to her.

Romanov Aristocracy and Perfume Number Five

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich Romanov, grandson of Tsar Alexander II, became her lover after Capel’s death. The emigrant from Russia belonged to Rasputin’s assassins and had wide contacts in European aristocracy. Romances with influential men were for Chanel a way to build networks of business contacts.

Dmitri introduced her to perfumer Ernest Beaux in 1921, who created the legendary scent for her. Chanel number five became one of the most recognizable perfumes in history. This product brought the designer enormous profits and cemented her position in the luxury world.

The list of lovers also included composer Igor Stravinsky and artist Paul Iribe, who died in 1935. Hugh Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster considered the richest man in Europe, was involved with her for an entire decade. When he proposed marriage, she refused with words that there were many Duchesses of Westminster, but there is only one Chanel.

Occupation and German Lover

France’s defeat in 1940 prompted Chanel to close her fashion house and withdraw from business. Throughout the occupation she lived in the luxurious Hotel Ritz, which simultaneously served as quarters for Luftwaffe and Abwehr officers. This choice of residence was not accidental and had far-reaching consequences.

Baron Hans Günther von Dincklage, an officer of German military intelligence, became her lover during this period. Romance with the enemy lasted throughout the occupation, which aroused outrage among French people living in fear and poverty. Documents declassified after the war revealed Chanel’s much deeper involvement in German structures.

The Abwehr recruited the designer and registered her as agent marked number F-7124 with the pseudonym Westminster. In 1943 she participated in Operation Modellhut, which was to use her old acquaintances with the Duke of Westminster and Winston Churchill. The goal was to negotiate a separate peace between Germany and the Western Allies.

Arrest and Mysterious Release

The liberation of Paris in 1944 brought Chanel’s arrest on charges of collaboration and espionage. The French punished mercilessly those who cooperated with occupiers, especially in cases of women accused of horizontal collaboration. It seemed to Chanel that trial and prison awaited her.

Release occurred after only a few hours without explanation of reasons. Historians believe Winston Churchill himself intervened, wanting to avoid scandal related to her wartime activities. Old contacts with British elite proved stronger than French justice aimed at collaborators.

In 1945 Chanel fled France and settled in Switzerland, where she spent nearly ten years. She lived in Lausanne, waiting for the matter of her cooperation with Nazis to quiet down. Return to Paris occurred only in 1954, when she was seventy-one years old and reactivated her fashion house, which again achieved success.

Return to Fashion and Death at the Ritz

Reactivating the fashion house at age seventy-one was a risky move after years of absence. Chanel bet on her recognizable style and legendary name, counting that the public had forgotten about wartime sins. The strategy proved accurate and the brand again gained popularity among clients seeking elegant simplicity.

She spent her final years working on collections and controlling every aspect of her empire. She lived in her private apartment at the Hotel Ritz, a place that had been her home for decades. This hotel witnessed both her triumphs and greatest controversies.

Death came on January 10, 1971, in the same apartment where she survived the occupation. Chanel departed as a fashion icon whose dark secrets only began emerging years later thanks to declassified documents. Her legacy in fashion remains unquestioned, though her biography is full of unanswered questions and carefully hidden truths.

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Marcus Renfell

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Marcus Renfell is a historian driven by curiosity and passion. He refuses to accept the “safe,” polished versions of the past. Instead, he brings forgotten, overlooked, and distorted stories back to life. His work blends scholarly precision with the art of storytelling, turning historical narratives into vivid, page-turning experiences.
His mission is simple: to prove that history can be gripping, alive, and deeply personal.

His debut book: Women of Science. Stories You Were Never Told

In his first publication, Marcus Renfell shines a light on the remarkable women who shaped the world of science — both the pioneers whose names we know and the brilliant minds history forgot. It’s an inspiring journey through untold stories, groundbreaking achievements, and the resilience of women who changed our understanding of the world.

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