The Serts’ social set included bohemian elites and the upper levels of society. It was a libertine group, rife with emotional and sexual intrigues—all fueled by drug use and abuse. Misia Sert had an enduring association with couturière Coco Chanel, whom she had met in 1917 at the home of actress Cécile Sorel. Sert later provided Chanel with emotional support, after the designer's lover, Arthur Capel, died on 22 December 1919 in an automobile accident. The two women were said to have had an immediate bond of like souls, and Sert was attracted to Chanel by "her genius, lethal wit, sarcasm and maniacal destructiveness, which intrigued and appalled everyone." Both women were convent educated; their friendship was one of shared interests, confidences and drug use.
