Which flower is often used as an emblem in Chanel designs?

The camellia is the flower most closely associated with Chanel’s designs and identity.

Coco Chanel was drawn to the camellia’s clean, graphic shape and its lack of scent and thorns. Chanel’s own account of the symbol’s beginnings places a white camellia pinned to her belt in 1913. The flower later became a recurring ornament on clothing, jewellery, handbags and beauty packaging.

The camellia also carried cultural associations. Alexandre Dumas fils’s 1848 novel and play The Lady of the Camellias helped make the flower an immediately recognizable symbol in European popular culture. Its association with the courtesan heroine added a layer of romance and ambiguity that appealed to Chanel’s interest in reworking social codes.

The camellia is sometimes confused with Chanel’s interlocking double-C logo, but they serve different symbolic roles. The double-C is the house’s principal monogram, whereas the camellia is a botanical motif woven into the visual language of its collections. Chanel’s white Camellia Alba Plena is especially important in the house’s modern skincare and fashion storytelling.