Chanel Deauville Tote

A seaside town and a shop address

The bag carries two places at once. Its name is Deauville, the resort on the Normandy coast where Coco Chanel opened a boutique in 1913, financed by her companion Arthur Capel. There she sold what one biography calls deluxe casual clothing for leisure and sport: hats, jackets, sweaters and the striped sailor blouse, made from jersey and tricot, humble fabrics then used mostly for men's underwear. Its front carries the other place: 31 Rue Cambon, the Paris address of Chanel's maison and apartment.

Seaside ease was the idea. The Deauville turned the house's chain-and-leather strap into a hardworking canvas tote, soft enough to slouch like a beach bag and sturdy enough not to crush or stretch.

It was Karl Lagerfeld's Chanel that made it. Lagerfeld had led the house since 1983 and is credited with reviving it after the founder's death in 1971; he worked the double-C logo into a pattern of its own, and the Deauville puts it front and center.

Off an underwater runway

The Deauville was first seen in the Spring/Summer 2012 ready-to-wear collection, shown on October 4, 2011 at the Grand Palais in Paris. Lagerfeld built an under-the-sea set of undulating walls and giant white sculptures of stingrays, sea horses, sharks, anemones and coral. Seventy models walked out of a cave lined in iridescent bubbles, and near the end a giant clam opened to reveal the singer Florence Welch, who performed.

"Chanel makes clothes for daily life," Lagerfeld said before the show, and the collection ran to pale, iridescent palettes and pearls used every possible way. A canvas tote meant for the beach and the errand run fit that brief.

Demand was strong enough that Chanel expanded the line into more colors, hardware and materials. The original canvas came in red, denim blue, dark gray and ecru; later versions came in denim, caviar leather, felt, tweed and raffia. A reversed jacquard canvas version was released for Cruise 2014, in the large size only, under style code A66941.

How to read a Deauville

The details are consistent across versions: a large CC and the Chanel name embroidered or printed on the front with "31 Rue Cambon"; two chains interlaced with leather as shoulder straps; and, on the larger sizes, a pair of flat leather top handles in addition to the chains. Inside are a magnetic snap closure rather than a full zipper, a large zipped pocket and slip pockets. Standard hardware is silver-tone, with gold, matte silver, pale gold and rose-gold finishes on special editions.

Sizes are where guides disagree. A 2020 reference guide lists the canvas tote as small 13.5 x 11.75 x 6 inches, medium 15 x 11.8 x 7 inches, large 16 x 12 x 7.5 inches and extra large 20 x 15 x 8 inches. Another guide gives the large as 50 x 30 x 22 cm, and a third as 44 x 21 x 32 cm. A yellow canvas large offered pre-owned in New York measured 15 inches wide, 11 high and 7.5 deep, with an 11.5-inch strap drop. Buyers should measure rather than rely on a single chart.

Wear tells the story of a used example: guides advise checking the handles, corners, logo clarity and interior. Cracking along the waxed handle edges and darkening on canvas and straps are common on well-carried bags.

Prices, then and now

Chanel does not publish a steady price list, but guides track the climb. One puts the Deauville at around 2,000 euros in 2012, about 3,500 euros in 2019 and around 4,000 euros by 2022. A guide written for the Cruise 2014 release gave the large at 1,800 euros or $2,500. By May 2020 the U.S. retail for the canvas tote was $3,000 small, $3,300 medium, $3,900 large and $4,000 extra large.

Special editions pushed higher. A 2020 edition in black and ecru with an imitation-pearl logo became a favorite with influencers; one guide notes that a pearl-logo Deauville that retailed at 3,300 euros traded closer to 6,000 euros secondhand.

The everyday canvas large is the most common version on the resale market. In early October 2026 a yellow canvas large in very good condition was listed in New York at $2,835, against a seller's estimated retail of $3,100.

Chanel's beach bag

Among Chanel's quilted flaps and structured shoulder bags, the Deauville is the casual outlier: a tote you are allowed to throw things into. Guides pitch it for the beach, the office and even as a diaper bag, which may be the best explanation for its staying power.

It also keeps the founder's own story in view. The resort it is named for was where Coco Chanel first sold relaxed, sporty clothes to women on holiday, and more than a century later the bag still sells that idea.

The numbers

Dimensions (large)

16 x 12 x 7.5 in (2020 guide); other guides give 50 x 30 x 22 cm or 44 x 21 x 32 cm

Material

Canvas, with leather-threaded chain straps and leather handles on larger sizes

Hardware

Silver-tone as standard; gold, matte silver, pale gold and rose-gold on special editions

Closure

Magnetic snap; zipped interior pocket and slip pockets

Branding

CC, Chanel and "31 Rue Cambon" on the front

Original colors

Red, denim blue, dark gray, ecru

Production quantity

Not published

Timeline

1. 1913

   Coco Chanel opens a boutique in Deauville, Normandy, selling casual clothes for leisure and sport.

2. 1983

   Karl Lagerfeld becomes creative director of Chanel.

3. Oct 4, 2011

   The Spring/Summer 2012 collection is shown at the Grand Palais on an underwater set; the Deauville tote is part of the season.

4. 2012

   The Deauville arrives in four sizes in canvas, in red, denim blue, dark gray and ecru.

5. 2018

   A leather Deauville appears for Spring 2018.

6. Feb 19, 2019

   Karl Lagerfeld dies; Virginie Viard becomes creative director.

7. 2020

   A limited black and ecru edition with an imitation-pearl logo is released.

8. May 2020

   U.S. retail for the large canvas Deauville stands at $3,900.

9. Oct 2026

   A pre-owned yellow canvas large is listed in New York at $2,835.

The world in 2011

• Oct 4, 2011

  Florence Welch performs from inside a giant clam at Chanel's Spring/Summer 2012 show.

• 2011

  Chanel's runway shows are staged at the Grand Palais, which a reviewer calls Lagerfeld's own.

• 1913

  Chanel's Deauville shop sells jersey, a fabric then used mostly for men's underwear.

• 1910

  Chanel opens her first shop, the millinery Chanel Modes, at 21 rue Cambon in Paris.

• Jun 2024

  Virginie Viard leaves Chanel; Matthieu Blazy is named artistic director in December 2024.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Chanel Deauville Tote is number 61 of 100 in the handbags entries of the FLOAT 100. 19 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (98 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The Deauville is named for the resort where Coco Chanel opened a fashion boutique in 1913, before she had a couture house in Paris.
• 31 Rue Cambon, printed on the bag, is the address of Chanel's Paris maison.
• The bag's debut season was shown on an underwater set where Florence Welch sang from a giant clam.
• Chanel's Deauville shop sold jersey, a fabric then used mostly for men's underwear.
• The large canvas Deauville cost $3,900 at U.S. retail in May 2020.
• A pearl-logo special edition from 2020 traded secondhand at nearly double its boutique price, according to one guide.