25/11/2024
MYTH
Coco Chanel, the famous fashion designer and perfumer, has her interlocking ‘c’ logo ornamented on all the lamp posts in London’s Westminster….
It would be lovely if it was true, however it is in fact…. a myth.
It is known that Hugh Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster
(one of the wealthiest men in the world in his time) met Coco Chanel in 1925. They had a ten year affair and he allegedly kept asking her to marry him, and she apparently didn’t want to commit. She is supposed to have stated, “There have been several Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Chanel”
The story goes that as an amorous gesture, he had all the lamp posts in Westminster inscribed with her famous logo as an homage to her. Very romantic, but in fact, if you look on the other side of the lamp post from the two ‘C’ symbol, there’s a ‘W.’ And actually they stand for ¬Westminster City Council. These lamp posts were installed in the 1950’s long after Coco Chanel had split with the Duke of Westminster!
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