Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was a force and a legend. In Mary Quant's words, she invented modern clothes. The Duke of Westminster wooed her; Stravinsky played for her; Cocteau wrote poems for her; Picasso collaborated with her; Goldwyn enticed her to Hollywood; and Colette was catty about her. She designed frankly fake jewellery, introduced the basic little black dress and perfumed the world with her No. 5. And at seventy-one made a comeback that brought the Chanel Look to the granddaughters of her original clients.
This is a fascinating, intimate, merciless but ultimately sympathetic portrait set into a patchwork of detail of the social scene in the first half of the twentieth century. Even for those with only the slightest interest in fashion this is a beautifully written, highly entertaining biography.
