Coco Chanel The Legend and the Life

"Almost 30 years after her death-and a full century since she opened a milliner's shop on 21 Rue Cambon in Paris-Coco Chanel remains very much in the foreground of consciousness for the global brand that bears her name. It is a business based, even today, upon the propagation of her image. The darker facets of this process are subtly and carefully revealed by Justine Picardie in Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life. This biography leaves you with the knowledge that, yes, Chanel took women out of corsets and put them into clothes that allowed freedom of movement. But there's more to it than that. She also propagated a mode of dress that provided comfort with dignity; an important distinction." - ARTnews

"Fascinating. . . . Intriguing reading. . . . In researching this book, Justine Picardie has shown as much doggedness in uncovering her subject's life as Chanel did in disguising it." - Edwina Ings-Chambers, Sunday Times

"Gripping. . . . In the deftest prose, Picardie lots one of the most extraordinary lives of the 20th Century. The book is lavishly illustrated, too, with images of iconic outfits and intimate photos from Chanel's private albums." - Mail on Sunday

"Elegant." - ARTnews

"Captivating. . . . Wonderful photos and illustrations." - ARTnews

"Picardie's biography on Chanel is not only stunningly presented-it features photos, pictures and fashion drawings by Karl Lagerfeld on almost every page-but brilliantly written." - ARTnews

"I thought there was nothing more to say about Coco Chanel, but Picardie's recent book does a great job of depicting a difficult and compelling 20th-century icon." - Kate Betts, The Week

"Picardie reveals a fascinating insight into the woman who created the Little Black Dress and who freed women from the constraint of corsets. . . . By using the archives of the House of Chanel, of course, but also those of the Duke of Westminster and Winston Churchill, Picardie has managed to create a truly three-dimensional portrait of an enormously complex woman." - Claire Black, The Scotsman