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On this day 100 years ago, the iconic designer Coco Chanel debuted her new perfume, Chanel No. 5, at her Paris shop. The scent and the woman has had a lasting influence on the business of fragrance.
So much about Mlle. Chanel was remarkable and distinctly Coco: she lived at the Hotel Ritz in Paris for more than 20 years. She had an unrivaled menagerie of animal sculptures. Her library contained more than 4,000 books, most in 18
th-century bindings. She loved and amassed a collection of costume jewelry.
Chanel collected people as well: Her private clients included the Duchess of Windsor, Marlene Dietrich, Françoise Sagan, Lauren Bacall, and Sophia Loren. And her friends were an even more rarified bunch: Picasso, Cocteau, Cécile Sorel, Stravinsky, and Diaghilev.