The exhibits relating to Chanel's activities in wartime Paris strike a serious note within what is likely to be the most glamorous exhibition of the year: Gabrielle Chanel - Fashion Manifesto, which opens at the V&A in London on 16 September.
"We couldn't do a show about Chanel and not address her wartime record," noted the curator, Oriole Cullen, who has expanded a show first created at the Palais Galliera in Paris in 2020 to delve more deeply into Chanel's links with Britain as well as her wartime activities.
Previously unseen files show the name "Gabrielle AKA Coco Chanel" on a list of 400,000 people whose part in the resistance is backed by official records. "We have verification from the French government, including a document from 1957 which confirms her active participation," said Cullen.
This story is from the September 09, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the September 09, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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