First Millionaire

I throw the question at my husband’s two bright, beautiful, English granddaughters, “Who was the first female millionaire?” The youngest, the naughty one (Exeter, Class of ‘23) immediately says, “Cleopatra!” (¡?) She must’ve been blinded by bejeweled images of the Egyptian enchantress and think her both very rich and very old.

The older, more reflective one (Cambridge, Class of ’22) takes a minute and says, “Coco Chanel”.

I would’ve said the same except we’d both be wrong.

Close but no cigar.

The first female self-made millionaire was an American known by her initials preceded by a very formal introduction followed by her husband’s surname: Madam C.J. Walker*.

Born in the 19th century, she was a millionaire by 1910; Chanel born also in the 19th century but 20 years later did not become a commercial success until the mid-Twenties.

Both had very humble beginnings. Gabrielle Chanel, later known as Coco, was born in the poorhouse and grew up in an orphanage, Sarah Breedlove, who was to become C.J. was born two years after the abolition of slavery; she was black in the American South, the first in her family not a slave. A life of hard menial work awaited her; instead she created an empire and was living next door to Rockefeller in a palatial estate on the banks of the Hudson at the time of her death.

The women share several extraordinary points in their meteoric ascent and some telling differences on how they treated their success and lived their lives.

Chanel rise to fame came through high society connections and haute couture, C.J’s from creating a product for black women’s hair sold through a sale force network made by her own clients, a marketing tool Avon had successfully started some years before. With no money, in a business world totally ran by men –one hundred years later there are 100 female billionaires- both needed help to get started, afterwards they both ditched the men asap.

At first C.J.’s husband lend her his advertising acumen, but when he tried to get control of the company she reminded him that it was hers and hers alone and left him; that he was a womanizer and that she suffered greatly from it, helped. Coco financed her first shop with funds provided by her lover, Arthur “Boy” Capel and promptly paid him back. “I want to own my business, I don’t need a partner”. In a sad way it helped that Boy, her greatest love, died shortly after and she plunged into work to assuage her pain.

Aside from their creative talent –Coco more than C.J. who later in life would admit to stealing her winning formula from a rival- they both were fiercely independent and knew that if they gave in they would relinquished control.

Once success was achieved, and the money started flowing, they choose very different paths. Coco was enthralled with beauty and a certain way of life -aristos, artists and robber barons- what was then known as “le beau monde”. C.J. chose to play a leading role in the cause of black women in America and was fiercely committed to the task, contributing heavily and organizing rallies to advance their agenda.

She became a well-known figure in political circles, while Coco, surrounded by many lovers, was making a name for herself on the French Riviera.

One was an activist, the other one an hedonist; both were hugely influential in their world.

After Coco’s death in 1971 the brand went on to become a powerhouse thanks to a strange twist of fate.In 1924 she had sold the rights to “Chanel No.5” her most famous product and the world’s best-selling perfume of all times to the Wertheimer brothers with whom later she entered a long legal battle trying to regain control; she never did and settled in the end which in hindsight proved to be a lucky outcome.

Chanel left no heirs and it is because the Wertheimers own brand that it has thrived, grown and evolved making it possibly the best known name in the luxury world.C.J.’s products continue to sell to this day albeit in a much modest scale, but her influence in the life on black women was her real legacy

Coco had a long affair with Hugh, Duke of Westminster, then the richest man in England.

His mother said to her, “Darling, marry Benny” (Westminster’s nickname) to which Coco famously replied, “There can be many duchesses of Westminster, but only one Coco Chanel”.

(Lissen’ up, Meghan)

CC and C.J. never met. They could have crossed paths but I think that, blind to what they had in common, they would have walked past each other without a second glance. Like ships crossing in the night.

*”Self Made”, inspired by the life of C.J. Walker with Octavia Spencer (Netflix 2020)