The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World's Most Elegant Woman

by Karen Karbo

Overview

A modern look at the life of a legendary fashion icon—with practical life lessons for women of all ages Delving into the long, extraordinary life of renowned French fashion designer Coco Chanel, Karen Karbo has written a new kind of self-help book, exploring Chanel’s philosophy on a range of universal themes—from style to passion, from money and success to femininity and living life on your own terms. Born in 1883 in a poorhouse in southern France, Chanel grew up to be the woman who not only gave us the little black dress and boxy jackets, but also bestowed upon women a chic freedom that helped usher them into the modern era. Elegant, opinionated, and passionate, she was the only fashion icon among TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century. The Gospel According to Coco Chanel is a captivating, offbeat look at style, celebrity, and self-invention—all held together with droll Chanel-style commentary and culled from an examination of Chanel’s difficult childhood and triumphant adulthood, passionate love affairs, and eccentricities. Warner Brothers set to release a major motion picture on this subject, Coco Before Chanel, in Fall 2009.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762764150
Publisher:	Skirt!
Publication date:	03/01/2011
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Karen Karbo is the author of three novels, all of which were named New York Times Notable Books; four nonfiction books—including How to Hepburn, which the Philadelphia Inquirer called “an exuberant celebration of a great original,” and The Stuff of Life, a People Magazine’s Critic’s Choice—and three books for young adults. Her essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Outside, Elle, Vogue, More, and salon.com. Chesley McLaren, known as “The French Illustrator in New York” for her Francophile style, has also worked as a Fifth Avenue fashion designer. She is the author/illustrator of several books, and her work has appeared in Town & Country, Vogue, InStyle, and Elle.

Read an Excerpt

Delving into the long, extraordinary life of renowned French fashion designer Coco Chanel, Karen Karbo has written a new kind of book, exploring Chanel’s philosophy on a range of universal themes—from style to passion, from money and success to femininity and living life on your own terms. Born in 1883 in a poorhouse in southern France to unmarried parents, Chanel was raised in a convent after her mother died when she was six and her father abandoned her. The nuns taught her to sew, and while working as a café singer in the early 1900s she began designing hats for fun. Her lovers included a wealthy English industrialist, who helped her set up her own millinery shop and steered his society friends her way. Chanel grew up to be the woman who not only gave us the little black dress and boxy jackets, but also popularized pants for women and easy, practical clothes that allowed women a chic freedom they’d never known before. In her strong-headed, elegant, opinionated, passionate, entirely French way, Coco Chanel helped bring women into the modern era. She was the only fashion icon to be named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century.The Gospel According to Coco Chanel is a captivating, offbeat look at style, celebrity, and self-invention—all held together with Karbo’s droll Chanel-style commentary and culled from an examination of Chanel’s difficult childhood and triumphant adulthood, passionate love affairs, career choices, habits, eccentricities, and personal philosophies. Weaving Chanel’s life story into chapter themes that subtly convey life lessons, and with Chesley McLaren’s charming illustrations, it will leave the reader utterly entranced with, and inspired by, Chanel’s amazing individuality, confidence, and determination.

Table of Contents

1 On Style 1

2 On Self-Invention 25

3 On Fearlessness 43

4 On Surviving Passion 61

5 On Embracing the Moment 79

6 On Success 93

7 On Cultivating Arch Rivals 111

8 On Money 133

9 On Femininity 155

10 On Time 175

11 On Living Life on Your Own Terms 193

12 On Elegance: The Gospel According to Coco Chanel 221

Acknowledgments 227

About the Author 231

Editorial Reviews

"Fashion is architecture; it is a matter of proportions.... In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.... Fashion fades, only style remains the same.... Don't spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door... Fashion is made to become unfashionable...." It is impossible to talk about the invention of Haute Couture without invoking the name and achievements of Coco Chanel (1883-1971). Karen Karbo's The Gospel According to Coco Chanel presents the essence of the French style legend's life philosophy in Chanel's own pithy, elegant words. Now in paperback and NOOKbook.

Anyone with a good sense of humor should hugely enjoy, or should I say enjoie, Karen Karbo's funny and stylish take on Coco Chanel. Like a little black dress, this handy life guide will take you from day into evening. K.K. on C.C.: oui, oui!”—Henry Alford, author of How to Live: A Search for Wisdom from Old People (While They are Still on This Earth) "Wise, witty, and refreshingly colloquial, The Gospel According to Coco Chanel is an enchanting tour through the complex, often controversial life of fashion icon Chanel. Filled with relevant life lessons for the modern woman, this book is Karbo at her irrepressible best." —Hilary Black, editor of The Secret Currency of Love: The Unabashed Truth About Women, Money, and Relationships

From the Publisher