Guardian It is reported that the name “Gabrielle aka Coco Chanel” appears on a list of 400,000 people whose role in the resistance is supported by official records. “We have verification from the French government, including a document from 1957, which confirms their active participation in the resistance,” Cullen told the newspaper.
Cullen said, “The new evidence does not exonerate her. It only makes the picture more complicated. All we can say is that she was involved on both sides.”
Incidentally, a BBC documentary titled “Coco Chanel Unbuttoned”, broadcast the day before the opening of the V&A exhibition, also mentions this confusing “dual role”.
“People want their favorite actors to be ‘good guys,’ too, and while I understand that desire, I don’t think people are ever really ‘good’ or ‘bad,'” filmmaker Hannah Berryman explained. Critic, “Chanel was an opportunist and survivor of her time, which probably influenced her choice.”