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. 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 far darker. Throwing new light on her passionate and turbulent relationships, this beautifully constructed portrait gives a fresh and penetrating look at how Coco Chanel made herself into her own most powerful creation. Justine Picardie brings the mysterious Gabrielle Chanel out of hiding, to celebrate her great achievements. 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. JUSTINE PICARDIE is the author of five books, including her critically acclaimed memoir If The Spirit Moves You. The former features director of British Vogue, she is currently a fashion columnist for Stella and also writes for several other newspapers and magazines, including the Sunday Telegraph, Harpers Bazaar and Red. She lives in London with her two sons. 200 col illus • Chanel, the most secretive of companies, have blocked all other authors of Chanel biographies from building anything more than a sketchy history of Coco. However, having worked at Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, Justine has already done a number of interviews with Coco’s successor, Karl Lagerfeld, and his right-hand woman, Amanda Harlech, and has been granted full access to the Chanel archives. • Drawing on this exclusive material, Justine’s biography of Chanel will reveal a great deal of new information and include many unseen photographs of both Chanel and her collections. • 2009 is the unofficial year of Chanel. Two biopics about Coco Chanel are due to be released this year. The first, Coco avant Chanel, starring Audrey Tautou is due to be released in September 2009. The second, French director Jan Kounen’s Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, will take the prestigious closing slot at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. • Justine is amazingly-well connected and regarded in the fashion and art world – she will draw on all these contacts to help promote this book.
Publicat de: HarperCollins Publishers