Mademoiselle Chanel by, C.W. Gortner
Available in-House
And as an E-Book on Library2Go
Enthralled, captivated, fascinated, enamored, I'm not even
sure if these words come close to explaining how great this book was and how
captivated I am with this woman. This book was impossible to put down I needed
to know more and more and more. This is one of those books that when you get
finished you want to go back to the beginning and start again because you don't
want it to end.
She was definitely a woman before her time she was an
absolutely fascinating woman, what she did, not only as a designer but as a
single woman in France in the early 1900’s is awe inspiring, she did what she
had to do and look what she accomplished, and when you learn where the famous
trademark stems from and the origins of her famous perfume it is so
interesting. Her rise and how she got there and the people she met along the
way is so interesting I am just awe-struck by this woman. I am far from being a
fashionista but I want to go see these older dresses and see more of her life.
This book also made me look up everyone she meets along the
way and to look at her styles and the scary lobster dress by her rival
Schiaparelli . I love Chanel’s more conservative simple dresses; really without
her we wouldn’t have the little black dress. And that she stopped women from
wearing fruit and birds on their heads that was a great thing.
But above all she was a woman ahead of her time;
independent, opinionated, beautiful and rich, but she didn’t start out that way
and everything she had was from her hard work, yes, yes men helped her along
the way but she paid every one of them back and without her talent she would
have never become the icon that she became.
The life she lived and the people she knew is a who’s who in
the artistic world of the time, she was accepting of everyone from the snobs of
the British aristocracy, to gay men and women, to the drug addled artists,
dancers and musicians, she accepted everyone despite their flaws, she was also
a very caring woman though her outward attitude didn’t seem that way I believe
from this book that if Coco liked you she would do just about anything for you.
Some of the things she did during the war are tough but I believe this version
she never wanted to hurt anyone and a person had to survive. I do hope that she
was able to find some peace and love at the end of her life.
Okay, I could go on and on about this book but I will stop
now and just say read this book the minute it comes out, you will not be
disappointed!
5 Stars (if I could give it more I would)
This review is crossposted on MissSusie’s Reading &Observations
As I have said in previous reviews I love a historical
fiction book that makes me want to do research and boy howdy did this book make
me want to look stuff up, everything from pictures of the clothes to learning
about the people she met along the way so here are some of the sites I found
with great picture of Coco and her crowd:
CW Gortner's--- Pintrest page:
Pic of Chanel is from:
http://www.dmoda.uy/coco-chanel/
This is a great site to see pictures of some of the people
and places you will meet in this book
An article about Coco and the ballet with a picture of her
and Serge Lifar
A neat tribute to Misia Sert as muse to so many artists in
the early 1900’s
Picture of Boy
This is a great site to see some pictures of some of the
people and places you will meet in this book
Bendor
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