Coco Chanel: An Intimate Life

I have finally finished the book Coco Chanel: An Intimate Life by Lisa Chaney! This is how the book looks like:

 

I bought this book in Singapore Changi Airport just before I hop on a plane and I'm so glad I did it. I love this book! Obviously, this book talks about the life of the founder of Chanel, Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel.

This book is very inspiring and educational, Coco was a fabulous and intelligent woman who has contributed a lot to the fashion world and helped in forging the idea of modern woman that sort of gave the "freedom" to women in the society to be independant. She is the most influential designer at her time and now, the brand Chanel is still one of the great couturier brand.

She came from a poverty background with a broken family and grew up in a convent. This made her very motivated and determined to grow out of her roots, being rich, upper class and she created a name the world will never forget. On the other hand, her personal life that has revealed in this book is very scandalous. She was a muse, patron or mistress to the century's most celebrated artists (Picasso, Dali and Stravinsky), to the French wealthy textile heir (Etienne Balsan), to Russian royalty (The Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich) and to Arthur 'Boy' Capel, the English upper class.With the newly discovered love letters and other records, Chaney reveals that Coco was a rebellious and progressive kind of a woman. Aside from the numerous liaison with some high profile men of the century, Coco has some lesbian affairs as well! She was hooked on drug habits and having trouble to dine or go to bed alone later in her life. She works most of the time till her death at the age of 87 because working made her feel good and not lonely. She passed away on the 10th January 1971 at the age of 87 in her bed.

I always knew that Bourjois and Chanel are related but never know how but in this book, I found the answer. Since the introduction of the signature Chanel perfume - Chanel N'5 (Coco's favourite lucky number: 5), she was introduced to Pierre Wertheimer (the owner of Bourjois) and became partner in business. However, since Coco's passed in the year 1971, no one was running the House of Chanel, so the Alain and Gerard Wertheimer (grandsons to Pierre Wertheimer) took over as a family business and still remain as the owner of Chanel now. They persuaded and hired Karl Lagerfeld in 1983 who is the creative director and head designer for Chanel now.

There are so much going on in this great, remarkable biography, it so worth a read and get to know the legend - Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel.

These are a few short Chanel films:
Once Upon A Time
Chanel First Shop
Mademoiselle
The Iconic Chanel Number Five
Gabrielle Chanel
The Return