The Untold Story of Sylvie K. Chanel

Prologue:

While most of us know of Coco Chanel, few of us really know her story. But what if Coco Chanel had a life-altering event or had a few details of her story that were different? Well, who am I to spoil the story? Read along to find out! 



Bonjour Je m’appelle Sylvie Katerina Chanel. My bad! I forgot you don’t speak French. Hello, my name is Sylvie Katerina Chanel or Sylvie K. Chanel as I like to be called. Not many people know about me (some might say I’m from an alternate universe) but I’m sure you’ll figure that out soon enough. Anyway, let’s start with the beginning, I was born to 2 parents, a man named Pierre Bernard and Coco Chanel yes, THE Coco Chanel. Let’s just say I wasn’t really a planned pregnancy. My mother came home from a stressful day of work and then you know….. I really don’t need to explain the birds and bees to you. So I was born many months later and then my story starts. I was born on January 5th, 1918 at 9 PM in Paris, France. My mother used to joke that I ruined her business dinner except I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. They named me Sylvie Katerina because it sounds sophisticated and would work well in the press when I work for her company. Ever since then, she only thought of me as a designer. I shortened my name to Sylvie K. because it sounded more like me and had an edgier feel, which let me tell you she was not happy about. After many days in the hospital, they brought me home to the biggest mansion in the world, which I guess is what happens when my mother is one the biggest fashion designer’s in the world and my father is a distinguished businessman. Being the daughter of Coco Chanel, has made my life very different than the average French girl. Throughout my childhood, my mother was very absent. Mostly my father was there but my mother, forget about it, I mean she was there but not really. Holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and nights, nights meaning she came home long after my bedtime and left early in the morning so basically invisible. As a teenager, I saw her more often, but as a child not really. When I was a child I was known as Sylvie K. throughout school and basically everyone except for family. People thought K was an initial for my last name, which I lied about. I said it was K because if I said my last name was Chanel I would be hounded by paparazzi so K. worked well. I wanted people to treat me for who I am, not who am I because of my mother. When I was born, the press knew Coco had a child and asked her for their name but she said, “In time, when I am gone you will know her as my Chanel inheritor” and that’s all she said.

Although one day, possibly one of the worst days of my life I wore one of my mother’s famous Chanel jackets, one she wanted to adapt for children or teens, I was around 14. Coco didn’t think much of it and given that I helped with the measurements and it was my idea. She decided it was only fitting for me to do a durability test. So I wore one but since everyone was following my mother’s every move and every piece. I would say teachers paid extra attention to me that day. First students asked if it was a knock-off and teachers were amazed. But let me just say people figured it out. People figured out what went after K. and it wasn’t Smith, it was Chanel. That was the last day I saw Mrs.Martin (my 3e teacher) or in America, the 9th-grade equivalent. After that incident, I felt like my whole life had changed. No more hiding in the shadows with a “fake name” I was now known as Sylvie Chanel but I insisted that everyone add the K. 1 it sounds better and 2 helps to remind me of my life before the Chanel Children’s Wear Incident, that’s actually what they called it in the newspaper. After that incident dialed down, I was enrolled in a smaller school where I could go through a day of school without new people recognizing me every day. In this school, everyone knew each other and I actually really liked it.

Fast-forward until my last year of high school when I was thinking about college. My mother thought I didn’t need college because I could go anywhere because of my last name. But I wanted to venture out and get into a university for me and my designs, not just because of my last name. So I applied to a couple of universities in Europe and some in the USA. My mother helped me design my portfolio but I made sure she only contributed 12% at most so it was my original work and I didn’t want to have a jacket-like incident (side note, I didn’t design an optional jacket for my portfolio for that very reason). I designed a couple of dresses, skirts, and blouses. I then submitted each piece to each school (it was a complicated process without advanced technology so I’ll save you the details.) Then around 5 months later I was accepted into all schools but 1 (it was some school in Ireland). My mother was outraged by the 1 denial, saying some of my designs were better than hers but that 1 denial made me feel great about myself and that I was accepted or denied by these schools for my design and creative ability, not my mother (Even though she did make some stitches I had trouble with). Ultimately, I did decide on Parsons in New York City which was a big switch for me considering it was in America.

In September of that year, I flew to New York (flying in my day and age is not fun) and after a long flight, I finally arrived. Luckily I was fluent in 5 languages including English so I had no problem with the language barrier. It was just that my accent was very heavy and hard to understand. Anyways, university went very well. I met new people some of which knew who I was and surprisingly didn’t make a huge deal about it, which I liked them for. I got to learn new techniques and made probably over a million pieces, some great some not so great. While in New York I got to meet Audrey Hepburn’s daughter and we practically became best friends because of our struggle having a famous mother. After graduating I came back home for a bit and kind of just didn’t do anything, that was until my mother got diagnosed with high blood pressure. The doctors said the cause was her putting too much pressure on herself and if she didn’t give herself a break she would be on her deathbed soon. I tried to help her but she wanted to do everything herself. I got myself a job a little after the news at another designer who didn’t compete with Chanel, THANKFULLY to distract myself.

Fast forward 3 months, I know I’m saying a lot of fast forward, but I don’t think you want to hear the boring parts, trust me. So, 3 months later I had completely forgotten about the high blood pressure, and when I came home from my day job(I had gotten myself a condo with my best friend Elise Hepburn. I wasn’t still living at home in adulthood, who do you think I am?). My cousin Andre was in my condo for some reason. I forgot to tell you but Andre lived with me when my aunt (his mother) committed suicide. Andre told me that my mother had died from a heart attack and had left me a note. I read the note and it was about me inheriting the Chanel company. I was shocked truly first of her death then of me inheriting the company. It was too fast I told myself why is my life rushing by in flash?

The company board members wanted to kick me off the board of Chanel but I didn’t let them. I had to put up a fight to stay CEO and I guess blood relation has its perks. My father helped me with the transition on the business side because he has seen lots of this before. I helped to modernize the company expanding it to different age groups and opening up many offices around the world. Later on, I grew an affection towards our finance guy, and eventually, we got married and had a child of our own. We traveled around the world for Chanel offices and business. I tried to spend as much time as I could with my son Lorenzo and he liked me for it. I tried to involve him in my company like Coco did with me, but I guess it was easier with a girl than it is with a boy. From the time I inherited the company to 2021 present day, I still strive to capture the original Chanel aesthetic through a modern lens. Even though I am at the retiree age I plan to work for around 5-10 more years, until I will pass along the company to my son. Whom I trust will hire the best of the best and will continue my mother’s vision. I hope that however long this company lasts it will always have a Chanel as its CEO to continue the legacy and offer a unique insight.

Sylvie K. stopped speaking and looked over to the journalist sitting across from her, signaling she has reached the end of her story

“Wow, Sylvie! That’s quite the story, is that the end?” said the journalist sitting across the room from Sylvie.

“Well I’m still living aren’t I?”

“You have a very good sense of humor miss, haha. Well that concludes this segment on The Untold Story of Sylvie K. Chanel on CBS news I’m Luna Taylor and I’ll see you next time”