Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History Paperback – 14 July 2015

A soup-to-nuts bio of Gabrielle Chanel, known through the globe as "Coco," from her hard-scrabble childhood and youth through her death in her apartment at the Ritz, with an afterward on the subsequent fortunes of Maison Chanel.Coco was a genius, both in design and in marketing. She created THE look of women's clothes which, despite the insertion of hip-hop, the Sixties, and grunge, has persisted in the everyday world. It wasn't just the wealthy who wore her patterns, but -- through knockoffs and ready-to-wear -- the middle class and even working class. Unlike most high-fashion courturiers, she not only didn't worry about knock-offs, she took a weird satisfaction in them. Our notions of fashion elegance derive largely from her. Garelick argues, furthermore, that her greatest creation was her image as a feminine ideal. Her clothes worked best for her own body type -- slim, boyish. In effect, women became Coco clones.Despite her accomplishments, Chanel was more than a little screwed up. Her origins in poverty made her realize that money, to a large extent, eased one's entrance into the beau monde -- although only to a certain extent. She couldn't marry into that world. She depended on its patronage and protection. People tend to react in two ways toward early poverty. The first is a lifelong empathy toward the poor. The second is a lifelong despising and fear, as if the touch of a laborer turns you back into one. She hid or reinvented her history and cut off almost of her family, mainly out of a sense of shame.As she went along, Chanel became increasingly reactionary, leading to active collaboration with the Nazis during the Occupation. She tried to remove her Jewish partners in the perfume business (they had fled to New York) under the racist laws against Jewish ownership, unsuccessfully, believe it or not. The perfumes were her largest source of income. When it was clear the Germans were losing, she switched to where the power lay and denounced at least one of her former friends. Garelick offers a fine discussion not only of the history, still officially sanitized by Maison Chanel, but of the links between fashion and fascism (all those sexy SS uniforms). This part of the book interested me the most.Much of this book makes use of new information, some uncovered by the author herself. Chanel substituted fairy tales for the harsh truth. She even lied for no real reason. Just coming up with a coherent narrative counts as a major achievement, but the book provides so much more and reads beautifully, besides.

Very interesting insight on Coco, fashion and history. What makes it special (vs other fashion icon related biographies I’ve read) is that it seem thoroughly studied and it’s beautifully written. Highly recommend it.

Merci bien reçue

Rhonda K. Garelick's biography entitled ' Mademoiselle Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History' is a highly enjoyable and informative read, which has been well researched by the author. Chanel was clearly conscious of her childhood as an orphan, even more conscious of her years as a courtesan to the industrialist, Etienne Balsan, in which she might be regarded by some as a common prostitute, or more kindly as his 2nd mistress. Either way, Chanel was never Balsan's first-choice, which was in fact the rather beautiful and accomplished courtesan, Emilienne d'Alencon. Through Balsan, Chanel met the Englishman Arthur 'Boy' Capel, who became not only her lover but gave her the chance of a lifetime, since he would be her initial financial backer, enabling her to open a millinery shop at what is now the famous address, 21 rue Cambon, Paris. The Chanel empire has its foundations in the relationship with Capel. Capel was to die tragically in a motoring accident and there seems little doubt that this had a profound and fundamental effect on Chanel throughout the rest of her life. Subsequently, Chanel would become the mistress of the second Duke of Westminster, known by many of his closest friends as 'Bendor', who at the time was most probably the wealthiest man in the world. However, one factor stands out in these various sexual relationships, which is that at no time did any of her male lovers seriously consider marrying her and that came down simply to background. The orphanage and courtesan labels never left her until much later in life and even then were still self-compromised by her behaviour during the period of German occupation of Paris from 1940 until 1944. It is neither the place or intention to spoil the read by delving too deeply into the biographical detail. Suffice to say that Chanel was guilty of being pro-Nazi, did have a Nazi lover throughout the occupation and was highly anti-Semitic. Then we come to the story behind the world-famous perfume, Chanel No. 5; that too is fascinating and although her ownership of the perfume only lasted from 1920/21 to 1924 and was the result of her friendship with a cousin to Czar Nicholas II and the Romanovs perfumer, Ernest Beaux, it would eventually make her one of the richest, most well-known and influential couturier's in the world. In fact, in the long run, Chanel was to achieve her aim to become rich, powerful and above all, respected and accepted by society, however, she was never patriotic towards her country of birth. Don't sell yourself short, do read Rhonda K. Garelick's book, its a fascinating and highly enjoyable biography of a couturier and her signature perfume that are both cultural icons. If you want to do some additional research reading, then you may also find Justine Picardie's 'Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life with sketches by Karl Lagerfeld'; Hal Vaughan's 'Sleeping with the Enemy' and Tilar J. Mazzeo's 'The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World's Most Famous Perfume' of interest. Garelick's biography of Coco Chanel is a great read and comes highly recommended.

Well researched book that just suggests what probably happened when the facts are not known.I recommend this book to anyone interested in Fashion and/or the social history of France in the twentieth century.