Chanel first met Capel through her lover and his best friend, Etienne Baslan. Capel fell in love with her while Chanel was with Baslan. It wasn`t until the Chanel and Baslan broke up that the two hooked up. His affair with Chanel apparently lasted from 1909 to 1918, when as a friend of her then lover Etienne Balsan he became acquainted with Balsan`s 26-year-old mistress. Boy Capel financed Chanel`s first stores and his own clothing style, notably his blazers, inspired her creation of the Chanel look. The couple spent time together at fashionable resorts such as Deauville, but he was never faithful to Chanel. Even after Capel married an aristocratic English beauty, he did not completely break off with Chanel. His death, in late 1919, was the single most devastating event in Chanel`s life.