Deauville is a city located in Normandy, on the coast of the English Channel, a 2-hour train or car ride from Paris.
Deauville was built in 1859 specifically to enable the Parisian to find a personal resort where one could take sea baths without suffering from the sun, and display their wealth without fear of seeming tactless. It was built by Duke Charles de Morney, a distant relative of Napoleon Bonaparte, on the advice of his wife, in the maidenhood of Princess Trubetskoy.
In 1913, Coco Chanel opened her first boutique here and introduced tan to fashion, in the 60s - Claude Lelyusch made the romantic film Man and Woman.
Walking along the beach along the water's edge has always been a worldly pastime in Deauville. Particularly noteworthy are the local beach booths designed in Art Deco style. Many of them are written off the names of famous movie stars - Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman. But swimming in the sea, for granted, in 1913 was considered indecent. The unspoken rule was first violated by Coco Chanel. It was she and her friend Battle Capel who became Deauville's first swimmers. The newspapers wrote about their "heroic swim" in the first pages.
Nowadays Deauville is a popular holiday destination.