"Coco" Chanel was born in 1883 as Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel. Her mother was unwed when she had both her and her sister and when her mother died in 1895; their father sent twelve-year-old Chanel and her sister to an orphanage. Because Chanel had learned to sew when she was six, she soon got a job as a seamstress and set her life into a forward motion. Later on in her life she made a huge impact on the fashion world and she also partook in the 1920's Paris cafe culture just like Earnest Hemmingway and the rest of the lost generation did as I learned in the other novels I have read on the topic.
This book was especially interesting to me not only because it had to do with my topic of Paris in the 1920's, but also it was all about fashion, which has been a love of mine since I was in fifth grade. I have always found fashion to be extremely interesting and enjoyable to partake in, but I have always been especially interested in Coco Chanel and her fashions in particular. I love her proper yet laid back style of clothing and bags and I particularly love her costume jewelry that she pioneered the use of in fashion. This book taught me many things about Chanel that I had not previously known about such as how she had many affairs throughout her career and lifetime, that she was not born as, "Coco" Chanel but as Gabrielle Chanel and got the name "Coco" from being a cabaret dancer, and that she was a Nazi Agent spy for Germany while she was in Paris.
From reading this book, I also learned about how Coco Chanel revolutionized fashion for women in the 1920's and her effects have lasted into today’s world. She was responsible for several elements of fashion that are still in use and are recognized in today's fashion world such as the suntan, the "little black dress", the Chanel suit, and costume jewelry. I learned how before Chanel, being tan was something that labeled you as being an unfortunate laborer who was doomed to a life of unsheltered difficult work. Chanel made sunbathing fashionable. Chanel was also the creator of the "little black dress" which she created with the idea that it was a simple garment that you could then pair with several accessories such as jewelry, belts, hats, scarves, etc. The Chanel suit was made of wool jersey, which jersey was a huge deal being used in women’s clothing and it soon became the image of women’s casual expensive clothing. Finally, Chanel was the person who first brought costume jewelry into popularity especially since she herself wore it all of the time.
Before reading Chanel I had no idea that Chanel was once a Nazi spy for Germany. Chanel first had to formulate a strategy and then she and her superior came up with a plan to press England to end hostilities with Germany. Chanel's SS master, Schellenberg said that she was “a person who knew Churchill sufficiently to undertake political negotiations with him.” This mission was called, "Operation Modellhut" and after the war Chanel was even able to escape being persecuted for her crimes of being a spy because the rumor was that Churchill had her set free because of their relationship.
Overall, I enjoyed Chanel by Edmond Charles-Roux very much. It combined my interest in France and in fashion into one book while still accomplishing the task of providing me with a complete understanding of what it was like in Paris in the 1920's. I would recommend this book, however I would only recommend it to someone who also holds an interest in fashion because if I were not interested in fashion at all I would not have enjoyed this book because it would hold no meaning to me. However, to the right audience, this book was a very interesting and educational book to read.
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