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."
Who Shall Die
"Who Shall Die" was written post World War II in 1945. During this time, Beauvoir created a social ethics for existentialism and titled this stage of her writing her, “moral period.” This was also during a time when French existentialist philosophers such as Beauvoir, Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre were seeking fame in not just France, but America as well. Therefore, the authors started addressing both French and American audiences, trying to make their existentialist philosophy more accessible. "Who Shall Die" was originally published in French and consists of two acts and eight scenes.