When did Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel take the name "Coco"?
Coco Chanel
Having learned to sew during her six years at Aubazine, Chanel found employment as a seamstress.[12] When not sewing, she sang in a cabaret frequented by cavalry officers. Chanel made her stage debut singing at a cafe-concert (a popular entertainment venue of the era) in a Moulins pavilion, La Rotonde. She was a poseuse, a performer who entertained the crowd between star turns. The money earned was what they managed to accumulate when the plate was passed. It was at this time that Gabrielle acquired the name "Coco" when she spent her nights singing in the cabaret, often the song, "Who Has Seen Coco?" She often liked to say the nickname was given to her by her father.[13] Others believe "Coco" came from Ko Ko Ri Ko, and Qui qu'a vu Coco, or it was an allusion to the French word for kept woman, cocotte.[14] As an entertainer, Chanel radiated a juvenile allure that tantalized the military habitués of the cabaret.[6]
Coco Chanel
In 1908, Chanel began an affair with one of Balsan's friends, Captain Arthur Edward 'Boy' Capel.[16] In later years, Chanel reminisced of this time in her life: "two gentlemen were outbidding for my hot little body."[17]:19 Capel, a wealthy member of the English upper class, installed Chanel in an apartment in Paris.[6]:7 and financed her first shops. It is said that Capel's sartorial style influenced the conception of the Chanel look. The bottle design for Chanel No. 5 had two probable origins, both attributable to her association with Capel. It is believed Chanel adapted the rectangular, beveled lines of the Charvet toiletry bottles he carried in his leather traveling case[18] or she adapted the design of the whiskey decanter Capel used. She so much admired it that she wished to reproduce it in "exquisite, expensive, delicate glass".[19]:103 The couple spent time together at fashionable resorts such as Deauville, but despite Chanel's hopes that they would settle together, Capel was never faithful to her.[16] Their affair lasted nine years. Even after Capel married an English aristocrat, Lady Diana Wyndham in 1918, he did not completely break off with Chanel. He died in a car accident on 21 December 1919.[20][21] A roadside memorial at the site of Capel's accident is said to have been commissioned by Chanel.[22] Twenty-five years after the event, Chanel, then residing in Switzerland, confided to her friend, Paul Morand, "His death was a terrible blow to me. In losing Capel, I lost everything. What followed was not a life of happiness, I have to say."[6]:9