Coco Chanel Lisa Chaney Viking Adult (2011) Rating: ★★★★☆ The controversial story of Chanel, the twentieth century's foremost fashion icon Revolutionizing women's dress, Gabrielle "Coco'' Chanel was the twentieth century's most influential designer Her extraordinary and unconventional journey-from abject poverty to a new kind of glamour- helped forge the idea of modern woman Unearthing an astonishing life, this remarkable biography shows how, more than any previous designer, Chanel became synonymous with a rebellious and progressive style Her numerous liaisons, whose poignant and tragic details have eluded all previous biographers, were the very stuff of legend Witty and mesmerizing, she became muse, patron, or mistress to the century's most celebrated artists, including Picasso, Dalí, and Stravinsky Drawing on newly discovered love letters and other records, Chaney's controversial book reveals the truth about Chanel's drug habit and lesbian affairs And the question about Chanel's German lover during World War II (was he a spy for the Nazis?) is definitively answered While uniquely highlighting the designer's far-reaching influence on the modern arts, Chaney's fascinating biography paints a deeper and darker picture of Coco Chanel than any so far Movingly, it explores the origins, the creative power, and the secret suffering of this exceptional and often misread woman Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Introduction Chapter 1 - Forebears Chapter 2 - The Bad One Chapter 3 - The Lost Years Chapter 4 - Things That I Should Be and Which I Am Not Chapter 5 - A Rich Man’s Game Chapter 6 - Captive Mistress Chapter 7 - Arthur Capel Chapter 8 - Refashioning Paris Chapter 9 - The Rite of Spring Chapter 10 - The End of an Epoque Chapter 11 - Master of Her Art Chapter 12 - The War Bans the Bizarre Chapter 13 - Remember That You’re a Woman Chapter 14 - Alone Chapter 15 - Beginning Again Chapter 16 - The Strangest and Most Brilliant Years Chapter 17 - Dmitri Pavlovich Chapter 18 - The Lucky N° 5 Chapter 19 - Entirely in White and Covered in Pearls Chapter 20 - Reverdy Chapter 21 - At the Center Chapter 22 - Bend’Or Chapter 23 - The Crash Chapter 24 - Schiap Had Lots of It but It Was Bad Chapter 25 - War Chapter 26 - Survival Chapter 27 - Von Dincklage Chapter 28 - Exile Chapter 29 - Return: 1954 Chapter 30 - I Prefer Disaster to Nothingness Chapter 31 - I Only Hear My Heart on the Stairs AFTERWORD Acknowledgements NOTES SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ILLUSTRATION CREDITS INDEX VIKING Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Published in 2011 by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc Copyright © Lisa Chaney, 2011 All rights reserved Published in Great Britain as Chanel: An Intimate Life by Fig Tree, an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd Illustration credits appear on page 430 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chaney, Lisa Coco Chanel : an intimate life / Lisa Chaney p cm Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN : 978-1-101-54586-7 Chanel, Coco, 1883-1971 Fashion designers—France—Biography Women fashion designers—France—Biography I Title TT505.C45C456 2011 746.9’2092—dc23 [B] 2011026497 Set in Warnock Pro Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrightable materials Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated http://us.penguingroup.com For Anna (And in memory of our mother, Elizabeth [1923–2009]) ... Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chaney, Lisa Coco Chanel : an intimate life / Lisa Chaney p cm Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN : 978-1-101-54586-7 Chanel, Coco, 1883-1971 Fashion designers—France—Biography... change out of all recognition The gradual and sporadic nature of change would be swept away by an avalanche of modernization as France was catapulted into the machine age Henri-Adrien and Angélina... cavalry regiment and the famed school of horsemanship, the Cadre Noir Saumur was devoted to its permanent “visitors” and the tailors, blacksmiths and farriers; the smart cafés, elegant restaurants, and pretty “working girls” all catered to the