It is privately owned by French brothers, Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, through the holding company Chanel Limited, established in 2018 and headquartered in London.

[5] Chanel is credited for revolutionizing haute couture and ready-to-wear by replacing structured, corseted silhouettes with more functional garments that women still found flattering.

[4] Because the Balsan flat also was a salon for the French hunting and sporting élite, Chanel had the opportunity to meet their demi-mondaine mistresses who, as such, were women of fashion, upon whom the rich men displayed their wealth – as ornate clothes, jewellery, and hats.

Among the clothes for sale were flannel blazers, straight-line skirts of linen, sailor blouses, long sweaters made of jersey fabric, and skirt-and-jacket suits.

[7] In 1915 and in 1917, Harper's Bazaar magazine reported that the garments of La Maison Chanel were "on the list of every buyer" for the clothing factories of Europe.

[4] After the First World War, La Maison Chanel, following the fashion trends of the 1920s, produced beaded dresses made popular by Flapper women.

An example is the woolen Chanel suit – a knee-length skirt and a cardigan-style jacket, trimmed and decorated with black embroidery and gold-coloured buttons, often accessorized with two-tone pump shoes, a necklace of pearls, and a leather handbag.

In 1923, to explain the success of her clothes, Coco Chanel told Harper's Bazaar magazine that design "simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.

To that end, the businessman Théophile Bader (founder of Galeries Lafayette) introduced the venture capitalist Pierre Wertheimer to Coco Chanel.

[9][11] Occupied France abounded with rumours that Coco Chanel was a Nazi collaborator; her clandestine identity was secret agent 7124 of the Abwehr, code-named "Westminster".

[12] As such, by order of General Walter Schellenberg, of the Sicherheitsdienst, Chanel was despatched to London on a mission to communicate to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill the particulars of a "separate peace" plan proposed by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, who sought to avoid surrendering to the Red Army of the Soviet Russians.

Nonetheless, Wertheimer avoided a trademark infringement lawsuit against Coco Chanel, lest it damage the commercial reputation and the artistic credibility of his Chanel-brand parfumerie.

5 parfumerie; assigned limited commercial rights to sell her "Chanel perfumes" in Switzerland; and granted a perpetual monthly stipend that paid all of her expenses.

[9][14] In 1953, upon returning to France from Switzerland, Coco Chanel found the fashion business enamoured of the "New Look" (1947), by Christian Dior; the signature shape featured a below-mid-calf-length, full-skirt, a narrow waist, and a large bust (stylistically absent since 1912).

Looking for a designer who could bring the label to new heights, he persuaded Karl Lagerfeld to end his contract with fashion house Chloé.

Chanel has partnered with friends and ambassadors over the years including notable actors, musicians, and other artists: Jennie, Angèle, Whitney Peak, Caroline de Maigret, Margaret Qualley, Victoria Song, Wang Yibo, Minji,Go Youn-jung, Lily-Rose Depp, Keira Knightley, Kristen Stewart, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, and Penélope Cruz.

That same year, Chanel launched a travel collection, and under a license contract with Luxottica, introduced a line of sunglasses and eyeglass frames.

In 2002, Chanel launched the Chance perfume and Paraffection, a subsidiary company originally established in 1997[35] to support artisanal manufacturing, that gathered together Ateliers d'Art or workshops including Desrues for ornamentation and buttons, Lemarié for feathers, Lesage for embroidery, Massaro for shoemaking and Michel for millinery.

[44][45][46] In February 2024, Chanel opened its U.S. flagship store dedicated to watches and fine jewellery on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, near Billionaires' Row.

[48] Previously, he was creative director of Italian leather goods line Bottega Veneta where his work garnered critical acclaim and commercial success.

[50][51][52][53] The ThyssenBornemisza National Museum in Madrid explored the relationship and reciprocal influence between Pablo Picasso and Gabrielle Chanel with a four-part exhibition (October 11, 2022 – January 15, 2023) spanning their works between 1915 and 1925.

[54][55][56][57][58] The Metropolitan Museum of Art, home to the annual Met Gala in the financial and fashion capital of New York City, first honoured the house with a (May 5-August 7) 2005 exhibit chronicling the work of Coco Chanel's designs dating back to the 1920s.

Founded in 2011, some of the organization's key initiatives include promoting greater healthcare advocacy; addressing the disparities in gender-based violence; and "accelerating economic agency and empowerment".

[63][64][65] Chanel announced (June 2021) an anchor investment in the Landscape Resilience Fund, contributing $25 million to farmers grappling with the impacts of climate change.

Setting a new series of science-based targets, the company also launched the No.1 de Chanel beauty and fragrance line in 2022, with 97% naturally derived ingredients and eco-conscious packaging designed.

The company is also sourcing eco-responsible tweeds; shifting to maritime transport with a goal of 80% shipments by sea by 2024; and supporting land and livlihood projects throughout communities in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

Since its inception, the House has partnered with the National Portrait Gallery (London), The Centre Pompidou (Paris), and the Power Station (Shanghai).

[75][76][77][78][79][80][81] Yana Peel, global head of arts and culture said of the Fund in an interview with Harper's Bazaar, "At a time when we are navigating our way through complex new environments around the world, we know that artists generate transformative ideas that help us envision the way forward.

Chanel provided the description of face powder, perfume, Eau de Cologne, toilet water, lip stick, and rouge, to the USPTO.

[9][98] Since its establishment, parfumerie Chanel has employed four perfumers: Cosmetics are the most accessible Chanel product, with counters in department stores across the world, including Harrods, Galeries Lafayette, Bergdorf Goodman, Hudson's Bay, and David Jones, Wojooh, Selfridges & Co,[100] John Lewis, Boots as well as its own beauty boutiques.