11/25/2021
Chanel in Israel!! 😍 I know the famous fashion house opened its doors in Tel Aviv in 2019 but when I actually saw the Chanel logo surrounded by Jerusalem stone for a new store in the Mamilla Mall, I was overcome with emotions. Here’s why… (if you know the quick history, skip to the last paragraph)
Coco Chanel was a successful Parisian designer by the early 1920s, known for her hats and little black dresses, but she needed funding to launch her signature perfume, Chanel No. 5. She partnered with Pierre Wertheimer, a successful French Jewish businessman, who provided 70% of the funding and the business soon exploded.
It’s no secret that Coco Chanel was antisemitic so it’s interesting that she chose to accept funding from a Jew. That funding launched her fragrance to stardom and skyrocketed the Chanel brand. As WWII ravaged Europe, Coco lived in the lap of luxury while she bedded a high ranking N**i officer and worked as a spy for the N**i regime. Knowing that half of her company (at the time) was owned by Jews, she tried to use the N**i imposed laws stating that Jews couldn’t own businesses to take back control of Chanel. Wertheimer, having escaped to America, outsmarted her, and did not lose his stake in the company.
Today, the Wertheimer family owns the entire company and they have grown it to unprecedented heights. Seeing the Chanel name in Jerusalem is the ultimate sucker punch to Mademoiselle Coco, who created an iconic brand that was tainted by her hatred of Jews.
For me, a Chanel bag is the quintessential statement piece. Statement as in “f*ck you Coco Chanel, we survived your hatred.” As a proud Jew who owns a Chanel bag, walking around the ancient (and also fabulously modernized) city of Jerusalem, in the days following two horrific attacks which resulted in the loss of innocent Jewish lives, I am thrilled that Chanel is owned by a Jewish family who overcame the hatred they faced, rescued the Chanel brand from its antisemitic roots and now have a storefront in the heart of Israel. עם ישראל חי 🇮🇱💪
