Chanel (top tree) at her villa La Pausa
Before 31 Rue Cambon, there was an apartment in Boullevard Malesherbes and many others that reflected Coco Chanel’s unique style. Her first door to the good life was at Royallieu, a renovated 14 ct. monastery where she lived with Etienne Balsan, a very prominent man and a horse aficionado. There, Chanel enjoyed a lavished life rubbing shoulders with high-class gentleman and their female companions. As a woman of strong personality, she never opted to adapt or copy the styles of the women that frequented these parties; instead she stayed true to her understated and comfortable style. After a few years Chanel moved to Paris and lived in an apartment also provided by Etienne in Boulevard Malesherbes; here she started as a hat maker and fell in love with Balsan’s handsome Polo player friend “Boy” Capel who helped Chanel open a shop in the first floor at 31 Rue Cambon. During WWI she bought a villa in Biarritz in the Basque coast, with a very Spanish influence; a place where wealthy people from all over the world used to come and vacation to find some peace. In this town Chanel also opened a maison de couture. She then shared an apartment with Boy Capel in the Avenue Gabriel, however after his tragic death she moved to a villa on the hill in Garches where she started displaying her elegant and simple style with beige walls and white furniture. In the late 1920’s she rented an apartment at 29 Foubourgh Saint-Honore that was built in the 18th ct. with heavy gilded boiseries which she hid with mirrors and her many Coromandel screens. Here she also kept the palette to a minimum of beige, white and dark brown. This was a home of lavish parties and receptions. In the early 1930’s she moved to the Ritz where she only went to sleep and she would spend her days in her three-room residence above her atelier in 31 Rue Cambon. During this time she started building her vacation villa, La Pausa in Roquebrune, where she planted twenty century old trees from Antibes. Guests would be taken to the beach and into town by small cars with drivers- now that is a good life if you ask me.
Abbey of Royallieu
above, 29 Faubourg Saint-Honore
Chanel’s dining room at 31 Rue Cambon.
Images above were scanned by me from Chanel Jean Leymarie. Below, more pictures of 31 Rue Cambon, Paris.
