Coco Chanel

Lore & Background

After her mother died when she was 11, she was sent to an orphanage run by the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Mary, where she learned to sew. At 18, she moved to a boarding house in Moulins and later worked as a seamstress, also singing in cabarets where she acquired the nickname 'Coco.' She failed to achieve a stage career and became the mistress of Étienne Balsan, then of Arthur 'Boy' Capel, who financed her first shops.

Reader's Guide

Coco Chanel's significance lies in her transformation of women's fashion, introducing a sporty, casual chic that became the feminine standard after World War I. She extended her influence beyond couture into jewelry, handbags, and fragrance, with Chanel No. 5 becoming an iconic product. Her interlocked-CC monogram, designed by her, has been in use since the 1920s. Her legacy is complicated by her collaboration with Nazi Germany during World War II, including a plan to carry an SS peace overture to Churchill.

Did You Know?

• Chanel was born in a charity hospital run by the Sisters of Providence in Saumur, France.
• She learned to sew while living in an orphanage run by the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Mary.
• Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5, may have been inspired by the bottle design of Arthur Capel's whisky decanter or Charvet toiletry bottles.
• She collaborated directly with the Nazi intelligence service, the Sicherheitsdienst, during World War II.

The Villa's Design & Construction

The land had once formed part of the Grimaldi family's hunting grounds and was dotted with wild olive and orange groves. Construction was completed in under a year, with a final price tag of 6 million francs—a considerable sum for the era. It remains uncertain whether Chanel herself or her lover, the Duke of Westminster, bankrolled the project. Architect Robert Streitz set out to realize what he called the ideal Mediterranean villa, drawing his inspiration from the 12th-century convent-orphanage in Aubazines where Chanel had spent her formative years. A stone staircase climbs from the main entrance hall, and a cloister encloses the central courtyard. A motif of five windows recurs throughout the house, a quiet homage to Chanel No. 5. Chanel rode Le Train Bleu from Paris each month to check on progress, or summoned local artisans to the capital when she could not travel.

A Salon of Artists & Socialites

During the 1930s, La Pausa became a magnet for the era's most celebrated creative minds. Her guest list read like a who's who of modern art and culture: Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Luchino Visconti all passed through its doors. Twenty olive trees from Antibes were replanted in the grounds.

War, Resistance, and Moral Ambiguity

The German occupation of France cast a complicated shadow over La Pausa. Architect Robert Streitz, who had designed and built the villa, became a member of the French Resistance. He sheltered in La Pausa's cellars, where he transmitted covert messages. The villa's gardens also served as a staging post for Jewish refugees attempting to escape France toward the Italian border. Yet Chanel's own wartime associations with the property were far less heroic. She made several visits to La Pausa accompanied by her lover, the German spy Baron von Dincklage, during the occupation. These contradictory threads—resistance activity, refugee aid, and Chanel's proximity to a German intelligence officer—make the villa's wartime history a site of genuine moral ambiguity. The property thus embodies the tangled loyalties and compromised positions that defined France under occupation, with the same grounds serving simultaneously as a haven for the persecuted and a destination for a fashion icon entangled with the enemy.

The Reves Years & Enduring Legacy

He nicknamed it Pausaland, found the atmosphere so restorative that his secretary noted he seemed "twenty years younger," and wrote and edited portions of his History of the English Speaking Peoples there. His wife Clementine, however, found the house claustrophobic and stayed for only four of his eleven visits. The Reves also hosted Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Greta Garbo, Errol Flynn, and Clark Gable. The name itself draws on the local legend that Mary Magdalene paused near this stretch of coast on her journey from Jerusalem after the crucifixion.