It might come as a surprise to read this article and ponder on the thought of Coco being a Nazi Spy and Collaborator. To those who live and breathe Fashion, this information is as bewildering as LA Clipers ex-owner Donald Sterling’s ‘racist’ comments in the NBA a few years ago.
The retort has also echoed in our modern era, more than half a century later, the unforgettable ‘anti-Semitic’ statement made by John Galliano - who was quite fittingly the Chief Designer at Dior at the time - But before this, there was Coco Chanel.
- As it is for us here at PulpWorx, we do enjoy adding a bit of literary flair to our posts, and so we begin our mind-boggling article, with a story. Once upon a time, in a land not so far away... there was a an angry dictator.
Hitler felt uncomfortable, the march of the Nazi’s at Berlin Square was in 2 hours and he'd just spilt apple juice all over the blazer of his military uniform. Indeed his desperation to replace the suit was reminiscent to that of a baboon in heat trying to find a mate, as he shrieked at the top of his lungs,
"Hol mir Coco Chanel jetze brauche ich ein mode-beratung und eine tass tee!! Und vergessen sie nacht mein kokain!!"
- Transaltion "Get me Coco Chanel now I need a fashion consultation and a cup of tea! And don't forget my cocaine tonight!!"
The entire brigade of SS Guard at the Reichstag was in a panic! This was a catastrophe within the Dictatorship… Coco was on a mission to recruit spies for the German War-Machine in Paris, staying at the Ritz Carlton with her then boyfriend, Nazi officer and spy recruiter Baron Hans Günter von Dinklage. There was a deep concern.
Ze Chermans had very little fashion sense and it was quite daunting to find another military blazer so quickly to replace The Fuhrer’s mess; as the Aryan soldiers were mostly 6ft tall, while their Supreme Leader was a mere 5'7ft... with black hair... Go figure. They also must've been blind. So, lets dive straight into it.
This article is more or less based on actual historical events before, during and after World War II. Coco Chanel, one of THE pioneering and most respected names in fashion, started her career as a Nazi collaborator of the highest order. Fact. Among others including Hugo Boss and Dior; these before they became famous Fashion Houses, were deeply involved with the direct manufacture and style of the Nazi regime’s many uniforms – BOSS was the main producer and designer of the Nazi thread. Is this why the StormTroopers of Death and SS Guard looked so fabulously fearsome?
George Lucas no doubt was also inspired by their fashion sense, as the Empire used similar colour coding and overall design elements eerily similar to the Nazi Order. Little did we know that Hugo Boss and Dior were directly responsible for the taste of the Dictators New Clothes. Christian Dior however, mainly dressed and styled the wifes of the Generals and SS officers.
Paris-American author Hal Vaughan's book, Sleeping With the Enemy: Coco Chanel's Secret War, claims not only that Chanel was "fiercely anti-Semitic" even before 1939 but carried out missions on behalf of the Abwehr to Madrid and Berlin during the war, with von Dincklage, some on behalf of SS General Walter Schellenberg, Himmler's right-hand man.
"While French Resistance fighters were shooting Germans in the summer of 1941, Chanel was recruited as an agent by the Abwehr," he writes.
“She traveled to Spain with French traitor and trusted German agent Baron Louis de Vaufreland, whose job was to "… identify men and women who could be recruited, or coerced, into spying for Nazi Germany".
"Chanel, who knew Sir Samuel Hoare, the British ambassador to Spain, via her relations with the Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor, was there to provide cover for Vaufreland's work," the book claims.
He also cites a British secret intelligence report documenting what Count Joseph von Ledebur-Wicheln, an Abwehr agent and defector, told MI6 agents in 1944. In the file, Ledebur discussed how Chanel and Baron von Dincklage traveled to bombed-out Berlin in 1943 to offer Chanel's services as an agent to Heinrich Himmler.
Von Dincklage, meanwhile, is described as a dangerous "Nazi spy master", Abwehr Agent: F-8680, who "ran a spy ring in the Mediterranean and in Paris and reported directly to Hitler’s propaganda minister Goebbels, who honoured him during the war."
And as for Coco? Her Nazi file number was Abwehr Agent: F-7124. Her codename, Westminister. She was regularly seen sharing close quarters with Nazi General officers, agents, and spies, including Hermann Goering and Joseph Goebbels. Although Chanel wasn't directly involved in the production and design of the Nazi uniforms as deeply as Hugo Boss – who designed, styled, manufactured and produced en masse – Coco was an infiltrator and high ranking Alpha spy for the Dreadnought.
Unfortunately during this era, the regime had a similar statement made infamous by George Bush Jr, "If you're not with us, then you're against us." So in Coco’s defense, I would also mention she was a very shrewd businesswoman, who knew exactly what she was doing, a savvy lady able to survive during these dark times in her own… uhm, fashion.
However, this does not exclude the apparent contempt she had for the Jewish people, which was common knowledge in the social circles of England, France and Germany. Lets not even get into the fact the the Nazi's were funded by Lord Voldemort... ahem... I meant the Rothchilderos Clan. Jewish Zionists of all people. This, is simple fact and there lie paper trails. Many. DYOR, for crypto too.
The book also adds weight to reports that, “Winston Churchill personally intervened to spare Chanel – a friend from before the war – arrest and trial, despite the fact she was on French resistance "Death Rosters" as a collaborator. She instead fled to Switzerland, only to return in 1954 to resurrect her reputation and reinvented the House of Chanel”.
Chanel, who first learned how to be a seamstress at a Catholic orphanage, was never charged with any wrongdoing and died in 1971.
EPILOGUE:
After an hour had passed, Adolf had finally contacted Coco via radio transmission; he was now calm. She managed to persuade him to wear the Nazi SS trench coat over his spoilt blazer and explained how the dark coat would contrast well against the brown blazer underneath. All was just fabulous and amazing.
Adolf asked Coco, “Mein Froelein, When will you be back at the Reichstag?”
She answered, "Next week, I'll bring Mein Fuhrer a nice present for the upcoming Victory Parade. Some tea from Tibet."
Hitler was happy. He then informed her there would be an evening cocktail party afterwards and that she should prepare something nice.
"What are you going to wear?” he asked.
To which she replied, "Well, I guess I’m going to have to design a Little Black Dress. The dark tone will also compliment the rest of your officers’ SS uniforms, and will match what my darling von Dinkalage will be wearing."
With ecstatic exuberance, Adolf Hitler responded in kind,
“Wunderbar!”
Hitler supposedly committed suicide 5 days later. The Victory Parade never happened and Chanel became a household name. So much so, even her bags are sold on the streets of Thailand and Bali.
