she also achieved her much sought-after
independence, earning enough money to no
longer require financial support.
Capel married Lady Diana Wyndham in
1918, but his affair with Chanel is said to
have continued until 1919, when he was
tragically killed in a motor accident en route
from Paris to Monte Carlo. Bereaved and
devastated, Chanel proclaimed: ‘I die as well
or I finish what we started together’. She
chose to go on, and it is said that Chanel’s
first fragrance – the iconic Chanel No.5 –
was inspired by Capel, born out of her great
love for him.
Shortly after his death, Capel’s sister
Bertha donated a silver trophy to the Polo
Club of Paris where Capel played frequently,
inscribed ‘Coupe Arthur Capel’ in his
memory. In her book
Chanel: An Intimate Life
,
biographer Lisa Chaney states that the cup
was created ‘almost certainly in collaboration
with Gabrielle [Chanel],’ and describes the
design of the cup as featuring ‘a most unusual
form of decoration on a polo trophy for the
Chanel’s masterstroke was in bypassing her
competition by focusing on summer
sportswear that provided elegance and ease
of movement – discarding the corset, and
superfluous decorations, to transform the
female silhouette and liberate women’s
fashion. She staged catwalk shows along the
Deauville boardwalk and around town to
advertise her dress designs, which attracted
much attention and success. Chanel would
later attribute her success to that one
fortuitous moment in Deauville –
rummaging through Boy Capel’s wardrobe,
looking for something to wear – telling her
biographer, Paul Morand, ‘My fortune is
built on that old jersey that I’d put on
because it was cold in Deauville’.
Chanel’s Deaville boutique flourished
and, with additional financing from Capel,
in 1915 she opened her first couture house, in
Biarritz, followed by another in Paris, in
1918. It was here, at 31 Rue Cambon – the
maison where Chanel established herself as
the epitome of Parisian high fashion – that
period – a relief band of intertwined circles,
or back-to-back Cs’. Chaney interprets
this as the first depiction of the Chanel
logo: ‘With Arthur still uppermost in
Gabrielle’s mind, it could well have occurred
to her to suggest this decoration to Bertha.
Representing Arthur’s and her own name:
Capel and Chanel. If not in actuality, in
a symbolic fantasy Gabrielle and Arthur
would be conjoined.’
The origin of these interlocked Cs,
which officially became the Chanel logo
in 1925, has been hypothesised about for
decades. Theories about their inspiration
range from the geometric forms of a stained
glass window in an Aubazine chapel, to the
insignia of the Château de Crémat in Nice,
which Chanel used to frequent, to an
inversion of her own initials. However, given
their early appearance on the Arthur Capel
Cup, it may well be that they were created as
a symbolic homage to Chanel and Capel’s
great romance, and immortalised by Chanel’s
continued creativity and success.
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