The spark between one of the greatest musical masterminds and the greatest fashion designer of the 20th century - did it fly? Film and literature have come up with their own ideas.

One music critic described Petrushka, the ballet set to music by Igor Stravinsky, as &quot;a cocktail of Russian vodka and French perfume&quot;. Little did he know how meaningful his words would become a few years later when the Russian composer fell in love with the most famous, richest, most elegant, most talked about and most visionary woman in the world: Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, better known as Coco Chanel.

Le Sacre du printemps

Paris, May 29, 1913. <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/travel/rosehall-house-the-secret-home-of-coco-chanel-and-hugh-bendor-grosvenor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coco Chanel</a> makes her way through the crowd to the entrance of the Th&eacute;&acirc;tre des Champs-&Eacute;lys&eacute;es. The program featured a much-anticipated premiere for the capital's cultured audience: Le Sacre du springemps, a ballet to music by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, staged by Sergei Diagilev's Ballet Russes.
The spark between one of the greatest music geniuses and the greatest fashion designer in history ignited at a very special moment in their lives. As is well known, Stravinsky fled from revolutionary Russia at the beginning of the 20th century and found refuge in Paris in the so-called "Roaring Twenties". A Paris that had attracted and hosted an entire generation of artists such as <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/fashion/pablo-picasso-inspired-fashion-runway-looks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pablo Picasso,</a> Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Francis Scott Fitzgerald and Igor Stravinsky himself. A special moment, it was said, because the situation was catastrophic for the composer: he had to flee the mother country with his first wife Katerina, who was suffering from consumption and was bedridden, and their four children and was penniless. But Stravinsky was already a well-known and well-respected name in France, if only for his totally innovative and avant-garde way of conceiving music.

The world&#39;s most famous mademoiselle, Coco Chanel, was struck and smitten by the Russian composer&#39;s music, theatricality and personality. But it was 1913, Chanel was deep in a love affair with Arthur Boy Capel, a wealthy English scion, and Stravinsky was still living in Russia. But love&#39;s arrow had been shot, music had pierced the heart of the queen of fashion, and indeed Coco Chanel proved herself almost ten years later, when the composer was forced to flee in a bordering on tragic economic and family situation , as generous as, to put it one way, malicious.

Living together

As Chris Greenhalgh recounts in his book Coco and Igor, Igor Stravinsky was invited to the French fashion designer&#39;s country home in 1920. A villa on the outskirts of Paris, full of modern works of art, with a garden and large rooms. It was difficult for the composer to turn down the invitation to move into Chanel&#39;s house with his entire family. He would even get a piano and a room for himself and his music. For a while, the two geniuses of the 20th century lived together in an idyllic but also difficult situation, because Stravinsky&#39;s whole family was with them. But resisting the charm of Coco Chanel was almost impossible.

How could Stravinsky&#39;s sickly and unassuming wife compete with Coco&#39;s exuberance, vitality and modern spirit? Gradually realizing the secret passion between the two, Katerina, despite her illness, also had to endure betrayal: music, and the financial situation and family well-being were much more important than her marriage. And although the love affair remained secret, locked between the rooms of the country villa, gossip about the two lovers began right from the start. They never confirmed anything, and the denials were numerous. But the vox populi had decided on the affair.

Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky: A Mysterious Love Story

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