Mademoiselle Chanel by C.W. Gortner

Mademoiselle Chanel by C.W. Gortner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars

I haven't looked too much into historical accuracy, but a skimming of her Wikipedia article makes it sound pretty accurate.

I love reading novels like this instead of biographies because the person is so much more alive. You might not get entirely factual information, but you should know the general picture.

The author did such a good job writing her character, Mademoiselle Chanel came back to life in these pages. I was immersed in the story til the last page.

I know Coco Chanel was a famous designer (who's not familiar with her logo?) I had never really thought about what the meant until now. Up until the '60s or even the '70s women were expected to marry and have babies anything else was a scandal. Coco fought against these ideals to work at her shop. She was the first woman who designed clothes for women, which actually explains corsets quite well which she fights against in the book. She was truly something of a feminist even if she didn't see that of herself.

You don't need to enjoy fashion to understand this book, but what the characters are wearing are more important in this book than any other. And Coco is always describing her new line.

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