Post-War Exile in Switzerland

Paris was liberated on August 25, 1944, and within days, the épuration (purge) of collaborators began. Women who had consorting with Germans faced public humiliation, including head shaving and public parading. Given Chanel's high-profile relationship with Dincklage and her residence at the German-occupied Ritz, she was an obvious target for popular justice. Yet she avoided the fate that befell many other "horizontal collaborators."

Chanel's escape from immediate consequences raises questions that historians still debate. Some accounts credit Churchill's intervention, suggesting he protected his old friend from prosecution. Others point to her potential knowledge of compromising information about other collaborators. What is documented is that she was arrested and questioned by the Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur (FFI) but released after a few hours. Shortly thereafter, she left France for Switzerland.

The Swiss exile, lasting from 1945 to 1954, represented both escape and punishment. Chanel settled in Lausanne, living comfortably on her perfume income but excluded from the fashion world she had dominated. Dincklage joined her in Switzerland, and they maintained their relationship, though its nature in these later years remains unclear. The couple lived quietly, avoiding publicity and maintaining a low profile that contrasted sharply with Chanel's pre-war celebrity.

During the exile years, Chanel watched as Christian Dior's New Look conquered fashion with an aesthetic completely opposed to her own. The cinched waists, full skirts, and ultra-feminine silhouettes represented everything Chanel had fought against. Her bitterness at being supplanted while in exile colored her later pronouncements about post-war fashion. She railed against Dior's designs as costumes rather than clothes, but her criticism carried less weight from Swiss exile.