Chanel: A Woman of Her Own

Axel Madsen

Macmillan, Sep 15, 1991 - Biography & Autobiography - 388 pages

Journalist Axel Madsen, the biographer of such icons as John Jacob Astor, Jacques Cousteau, and John Huston, presents the life and legend of French fashion designer Coco Chanel.

Chanel. The name alone evokes fashion and perfume, emancipation and allure. In this revealing, intimate biography, Axel Madsen brings to life Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, who was born an illegitimate pauper and rose to become the reigning queen of fashion who revolutionized women's styles forever.

Madsen traces Chanel's extrordinary life, from her beginnings as an orphan, to the first small boutique she opened in 1910, using her lover's financial backing, to the founding of the House of Chanel where she altered the look of fashion entirely, inventing sportswear, the "little black dress," costume jewelry, and the perfume that Marilyn Monroe said was all she wore to bed. Although loved by many men, Coco remained wed only to her business, and when she died in 1971, at the age of eighty-eight, she was wealthy, an international celebrity, and utterly alone.

Lavishly illustrated with photographs of Coco Chanel and her celebrated circle of friends and lovers, Chanel: A Woman of Her Own is the story of the magnificent woman whose legend lives on.

Contents

• A Family to Disavow: 3
• Orphans Foundlings and Illegitimates: 10
• Coco: 19
• Balsan: 27
• Gold Diggers and Claudines: 33
• Royallieu: 43
• Boy Capel: 49
• Rue Cambon: 56
• First Success: 64
• War: 71
• Misia and Distractions: 83
• Spurned: 91
• TWO: 103
• Grief: 105
• Stravinsky: 115
• Glitter and No 5: 128
• The Wertheimers: 137
• Bendor: 147
• The Poet: 156
• To Be a Duchess Perhaps: 166
• Death in Venice: 173
• THREE: 179
• Cutting Prices: 181
• Hollywood: 188
• Competition: 195
• Iribe: 202
• Tragedy at Play: 207
• Popular Front: 212
• A Brave Face: 218
• Closing the House of Chanel: 228
• Spatz: 237
• How Will It All End?: 248
• Operation Modellhut: 254
• Exile: 261
• Years of Oblivion: 271
• FOUR: 279
• Comeback: 281
• Unmistakable Influence: 290
• Youthquakes: 300
• Coco or Kate: 310
• One Hundred Forever: 318
• Death on a Sunday: 326
• Afterlife: 328
• Notes on Sources: 336
• Bibliography: 363
• Index: 369

About the author

Axel Madsen was a biographer and journalist. Born in Denmark and raised in Paris, he first began writing for the Paris edition of The New York Herald Tribune. He moved to Los Angeles in the 1960s, where he wrote biographies of Coco Chanel, Billy Wilder, John Jacob Astor, and Jacques Cousteau among others. He died in 2007.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Chanel: A Woman of Her Own; An Owl book
• Author: Axel Madsen
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Macmillan, 1991
• ISBN: 0805016392, 9780805016390
• Length: 388 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Artists, Architects, Photographers; Biography & Autobiography / Fashion; Biography & Autobiography / Women; Design / Fashion & Accessories