Coco Chanel
As 1971 began, Chanel was 87 years old, tired, and ailing. She carried out her usual routine of preparing the spring catalogue. She had gone for a long drive the afternoon of Saturday, 9 January. Soon after, feeling ill, she went to bed early. She died on Sunday, 10 January 1971, at the Hotel Ritz, where she had resided for more than 30 years.
Her funeral was held at the Église de la Madeleine; her fashion models occupied the first seats during the ceremony and her coffin was covered with white flowers—camellias, gardenias, orchids, azaleas and a few red roses. She died in her infamous style, announcing: "You see, this is how you die."
Bill Smith (jewelry designer)
In June 1968, Bill Smith was made vice-president of Richelieu, at that time the second largest jewelry firm in America, after only two months with the company as their head designer. Later that year in October, he was commissioned to exclusively create all the jewelry for the Broadway production of "Coco", a stage musical about the life of Coco Chanel starring Katharine Hepburn.