Upon request I am giving an account of the historic trade mark Chanel.
Her last name was spelt Chasnel and pronounced Chanel. This was however due to a clerical misspelling of her actual name Chanel. None of her parents were present when Gabrielle was entered into the registry, and so the clerk wrote Chasnel.
If, like me, you have watched the film Coco Avant Chanel (Coco before Chanel in English) you might think that she was living in an orphanage at some stage of her life. (It's said that her time at the orphanage is supposed to have inspired her style). She did live for 6 years at an orphanage and she learned to sew there. When her mother passed away she lived with an aunt as a servant. Or so she wanted us to think. She made up many stories to glorify herself. You might also think that Adrienne was her sister. Not true. She was a favourite aunt and friend of Coco's. Coco’s sister was called Julia or Julia-Berthe.
She was dating/friends with Etienne Balsan, who was also her protector, who didn't believe in commercial success, so she must have felt relief when Arthur Edward ‘Boy’ Capel helped her set up a shop or milliners salon in Rue Cambon under the name ⟫Chanel Modes⟪! It’s said that his sartorial style influenced Coco Chanel’s style or the Chanel look.
She spotted a niche in the market or a need for more simple clothes and filled the need. She took advantage of the shortage of fabric and labour at the time. She bought jersey, normally only used for mens undergarments, and launched the stripy top inspired some say by fishermen. Known as “La Marinière”.
Right after the war she was finally making a difference and was able to pay Boy Capel back and thus refusing the status of someone maintained. I suppose that she was being fiercely independent, and that turned out to be in her favour because otherwise she would probably have lost everything when he passed away.
She continued to grow her empire successfully. She got perfumes created with help. She is the only one who has ever successfully registered a SCENT mark! She also started making jewellery. To begin with it was costume jewellery and later on she got to make a collection of haute joaillerie. Meaning that she created: ready to wear clothes, haute couture, perfume, jewellery and other accessories, not to mention makeup.
"The trade mark was registered in 1924. Chanel Inc. in America. And it is the interlocked C’s, as mentioned below, and the word mark. The corporate identity is the two interlocked C’s one facing right one facing left. This »logotype was given to Chanel by the Château de Crémat, Nice, and was not registered as a trademark until the first Chanel shops were established«. - Wikipedia.
»At that time, the trademarks were registered only for the perfume, toiletry, and cosmetic products in the primary class of common metals and their alloys. Chanel provided the description of face powder, perfume, Eau de Cologne, toilet water, lip stick, and rouge, to the USPTO.[30] The Chanel and double-C trademarks were awarded on the same date of 24 February 1925 with respective Serial Numbers of 71205468 and 71205469. The first trademark application for the No. 5 perfume was on Thursday, 1 April 1926, described as perfume and toilet water. First use and commercial use was stated as 1 January 1921. Registration was granted on 20 July 1926 with Serial Number 71229497«. - Wikipedia.
So you see even the house of Chanel has registered their trade mark, and did it a long time ago. When looking up the Chanel mark I see registrations for the clothes as well as the above mentioned registrations. This to me shows that they are quite serious about the protection of the mark.
Which is the whole point in registering a mark to begin with. As some may know Coco Bonheur Chanel also known as Gabrielle Chanel passed away in 1971, and she was born in 1883, meaning that she was 87 years of age when she made her transition. Interestingly she went to her grave still as Gabrielle Chasnel. She wasn’t interested in altering the misspelling because it would reveal where she was born, in a poor house hospice and for someone who worked her way from nothing she was clearly intent on keeping that to herself. We can’t really blame her for that.
As some of you might know my beautiful cat was named after this famous fashion designer, hence the photo of her here. She is neutered and so her named after the most famous fashion designer isn’t an infringement on the trade mark.
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