Chanel

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Chanel is a French privately held company owned by Alain Wertheimer and Gerard Wertheimer, grandsons of Pierre Wertheimer, an early business partner of couturière Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel. Its high fashion brand specializes in haute couture and ready-to-wear clothes, luxury goods, and fashion accessories. In her youth, Chanel gained the nickname “Coco” from her time on the stage. As a fashion designer, Coco Chanel catered to women’s taste for elegance in dress, with blouses and suits, trousers and dresses, and jewelery (gemstone and bijouterie) of simple design, that replaced the opulent, over-designed and constrictive clothes and accessories of 19th-century fashion.