Coco Chanel

To call Coco Chanel a fashion designer hardly captures her social and culturalsignificance. An iconoclastic entrepreneur, she rebelled against and manipulatedgender expectations of her time. Linda Simon teases apart the myth that Chanel and her public collaborated to create, to explore its contradictions: a self-proclaimed recluse who emerged as one of the most spectacular personalities of her time; a brilliant businesswoman who signed away ninety percent of her company; a genius who...
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To call Coco Chanel a fashion designer hardly captures her social and culturalsignificance. An iconoclastic entrepreneur, she rebelled against and manipulatedgender expectations of her time. Linda Simon teases apart the myth that Chanel and her public collaborated to create, to explore its contradictions: a self-proclaimed recluse who emerged as one of the most spectacular personalities of her time; a brilliant businesswoman who signed away ninety percent of her company; a genius who claimed she was nothing more than an artisan. She examines the world Chanel both reflected and shaped, setting her life and work in a broad context of women's history in France and America, from before the First World War up through the profound social changes of the late 1960s. Drawing upon rich archival sources, Simon provides a lively, clear-eyed biography of a woman whose influence and legend transcend the world of fashion.