1883 Gabrielle CHANEL born in Saumur.
1909 Gabriel Chanel opened a little milliners shop in Paris, at 160 boulevard Malesherbes.
1910 Chanel relocated to 21rue Cambon, where she remained for more than 50 years, throughout her years of glorious success.
1913 Opened second shop in Deauville.
1916 Opens third shop in Biarritz.
1921 The chemist Ernest Beaux offered her five formulae for perfumes, one of which became Chanel Nฐ 5, still the top selling perfume in the world today.
1924 Coco Chanel and Pierre Wertheimer, the director of BOURJOIS, developed the perfume business together.
1935 She reached her most glorious peak, and all the crowned heads and celebrities of the time could be seen at rue Cambon. Coco CHANEL headed a workforce of over 4,000.
1939 Right at the start of the war, CHANEL decided to close and lay off her staff. She tried, by various dubious manoeuvres, but failed to secure, the exclusive rights to every perfume that bore her name, in the absence of the Wertheimer family, in exile in the United States. Following her arrest, Mademoiselle CHANEL retired to Switzerland for the next few years.
1954 Coco CHANEL re-opened in the rue Cambon and ceded the control of the couture house to Pierre Wertheimer, who forgave her, knowing that without Gabrielle Chanel, there would be no CHANEL.
1971 Gabrielle CHANEL died on 10 January at the RITZ Hotel, where she lived near to the rue Cambon, leaving a veritable empire behind her.
THE CHANEL EMPIRE
1972 to 1983 To ensure their succession, the Wertheimer family turned to the faithful workforce of the Coco Chanel ateliers, attached to the tradition of the great couture House.
1983 to 1996 The Wertheimer turned to great names in couture-Karl LAGERFELD, formerly at BALMAIN and PATOU- and perfumery - Jacques POLGE, from GIVAUDAN ROURE.
CHANEL is undoubtedly the most fabulous business in the world of luxury today.
