Chanel was the daughter of a minor nobleman who had fallen on hard times. That’s what she told people anyway, but the reality was that her mother died and her father abandoned her and she was raised an orphan in a charitable institution. It’s very curious how any famous person these days would kill for an origin story like that, but in those days it was shameful to come from such lowly origins. So Chanel simply did what any sensible person would do: she lied magnificently, wore the lie like one of her own little black dresses, and let the aristocrats who actually did inherit their wealth spend their entire lives wondering why they seemed so dreadfully dull by comparison.
