Coco Chanel

by Picardie, Justine

• ISBN13: 9780061963858
• ISBN10: 0061963852
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-09-21
• Publisher: It Books

Summary

Sleek. Chic. Notoriously guarded. Welcome to the secret world of Gabrielle Chanel. The story of Chanel begins with an abandoned child, as lost as a girl in a dark fairy tale. Unveiling remarkable new details about Gabrielle Chanel's early years in a convent orphanage, and her flight into unconventional adulthood, Justine Picardie explores what lies beneath the glossy surface of a mythic fashion icon. Throwing new light on her passionate and turbulent relationships, this beautifully constructed portrait gives a fresh and penetrating look at how Coco Chanel made herself into her own most powerful creation. An authoritative account, based on personal observations and interviews with Chanel's last surviving friends, employees, and relatives, it also unravels her coded language and symbols, and traces the influence of her formative years on her legendary style. Feared and revered by the rest of the fashion industry, Coco Chanel died in 1971 at the age of eighty-seven. But her legacy lives on. Drawing upon her unprecedented access to the Chanel archive, Justine Picardie brings Gabrielle Chanel out of hiding and uncovers the consequences of what Chanel covered up, unpicking the seams between truth and myth in a story that reveals the true heart of fashion.

Table of Contents

Mademoiselle is at Home	p. 1
Gabrielle	p. 13
In the Shadow of the Cross	p. 25
Coco	p. 39
Courtesans and Camellias	p. 49
The Double C	p. 61
The Little Black Dress	p. 81
Misia and the Muse	p. 95
Number Five	p. 113
The Russians	p. 127
The Duke of Westminster	p. 145
Riviera Chic	p. 173
The Woman in White	p. 191
The Promised Land	p. 205
Diamonds as Big as the Ritz	p. 217
Through a Glass, Darkly	p. 237
The Comeback	p. 269
Celebrity Chanel	p. 287
Scissors	p. 309
La Grande Mademoiselle	p. 323
Picture Credits	p. 336
Bibliography	p. 338
Index	p. 339
Acknowledgements	p. 343
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.