Chanel

The Chanel interlocking Cs, 1925 Two back-to-back Cs, one facing each way, designed by Gabrielle Chanel herself and essentially unchanged since. Where the idea came from is house lore rather than record: one often-told story points to an insignia at the Château de Crémat, a vineyard villa in the south of France, another to the stained-glass windows of the abbey at Aubazine, where she grew up in an orphanage. The mark's strength is its restraint. It needs no wordmark beside it and scales from a quilted bag's clasp to a button, which is why Chanel can use it sparingly and still be recognized everywhere.