Who was Elaine Heilbron, mother of Chanel owners and great friend of Karl Lagerfeld, who has died aged 99?

He was the essential face of the label with its two interlocking Cs.This Monday, November 25, the house of Chanel announced the death of Eliane Heilbronn at the age of 99. She was the mother of businessmen Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, the current owners of the French fashion house. “It is with great sadness that Chanel confirms the death of Madame Eliane Heilbron. The funeral will take place under the conditions of family privacy,” said the press release of the luxury brand.

A close advocate of Karl Lagerfeld

Born in 1925, Eliane Heilbronn is the daughter of Denise and Louis-Raymond Fischer, a French architect and resistance fighter. Her relationship with the house of Chanel began in 1947 when she married Jacques Wertheimer, the son of Pierre Wertheimer, who at the time co-owned the perfumery with his brother Paul of Chanel, who later became Chanel’s sole proprietor. homeowner in 1954. She was divorced in 1952 and remarried to lawyer Didier Heilbron before Resuming his legal education in the US, he became a lawyer and specialized in contract, distribution and intellectual property rights. In 1978, he founded the firm Salans Hertzfeld and Heilbronn in Paris, advising his son Alain. Wertheimer.

In addition to business, Elian Heilbron was also known as a close friend of Karl Lagerfeld, with whom she shared a taste for Parisian culture. Do what you want, but if it doesn’t work out, I’ll sell it,” he allegedly told Carl. to Lagerfeld, before he responded. “Write in the contract. “Do what you want.” A bet worth its weight in gold. Taking over the helm of Chanel’s ready-to-wear and haute couture collections in 1983, the German designer quickly became recognized for his boundless creativity, his unfailing modernity, and effortlessly conveys his noble letters at the house founded by Gabriel Chanel. Especially from an economic point of view. In 2018, the brand crossed $11 billion in sales.

Elian Heilbronn, always dressed in Chanel, established himself as the elegant and discreet figure of the great Wertheimer dynasty, which on September 12 invested the Betancourt family’s minority stake in The Row, a successful American brand specializing in luxury ready-to-wear and founded in 2006 by the Olsen sisters.