Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life - Hardcover

Picardie, Justine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007317611 ISBN 13: 9780007317615

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2010

Synopsis

Justine Picardie has spent the last decade puzzling over the truth about Coco Chanel, attempting to peel away the accretions of romance and lies. In this full-scale biography we finally discover the history of the incredible woman who created the way we look now. Coco Chanel was an extraordinary inventor - she conjured up the little black dress, bobbed hair, trousers for women, contemporary chic, best-selling perfumes, and the most successful fashion brand of all time - but she also invented herself, fashioning the myth of her own life with the same dexterity as her couture. While Chanel was supreme innovator and vendor of all things elegant and beautiful, what lies beneath her own glossy myth is darker. In this book, Justine Picardie brings the mysterious Gabrielle Chanel out of hiding, to celebrate her great achievements, at the same time as casting a clear eye over her transgressions. She examines Chanel's enduring afterlife, as well as her remarkable life, uncovering the consequences of what she covered up, unpicking the seams between truth and legend, yet keeping intact the real fabric of her past.

About this title

Product Description:

Justine Picardie has spent the last decade puzzling over the truth about Coco Chanel, attempting to peel away the accretions of romance and lies. In this beautifully illustrated, impeccably written full-scale biography we finally discover the history of the incredible woman who created the way we look now.

Review:

"[A] gripping new biography... In the deftest prose, Picardie plots one of the most extraordinary lives of the 20th Century. The book is lavishly illustrated, too, with images of iconic outfits and intimate photos from Chanel's private albums.'--Mail on Sunday, September 26, 2010

The author is at her best in the analysis of (Chanel's) throw-away lines, picking up every discarded clue and using it suggestively. --Wall Street Journal, October 15, 2010

(An) elegant book...The Chanel uncovered by Picardie is a storyteller. --The Telegraph Review, October 2, 2010

"Justine Picardie’s vividly told account of Coco Chanel’s life has all the elements of a novel: the mystery, the sense of loss, the quest for fame and fortune, the distinguished lovers... in the style of Chanel herself."--Daily Mail, October 8, 2010

'The French fashion icon finds a shrewd and sympathetic interpreter in Justine Picardie... this handsome volume cleverly blends the life and afterlife of the enigma who became a brand."--The Independent, November 1, 2010

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0007317611
• ISBN 13: 9780007317615
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352