Bridgewater Review Volume 34 | Issue 1 Article 12 May-2015 Book Review: Fashioning Coco Chanel Sarah Wiggins Bridgewater State College, [email protected] Recommended Citation Wiggins, Sarah (2015). Book Review: Fashioning Coco Chanel. Bridgewater Review, 34(1), 35-36. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol34/iss1/12 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. suits, or schoolboy sports clothes and BOOK REVIEWS blazers, the ‘Chanel woman’ conjured the silhouette of the war’s millions of Fashioning Coco Chanel soldiers – the young men dying just out Sarah Wiggins of sight of the general population” (87). Unfortunately, as the book contin- Rhonda K. Garelick, Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and ues, the figure of Chanel is lost to the the Pulse of History (New York: Random House, reader. Garelick structures individual chapters on Chanel’s romantic inter- 2014). ests, including the exiled Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich Romanov, poet pectators are drawn to the grandeur of a Chanel Pierre Reverdy, the wealthy Duke of runway performance, captivated by the clothing Westminster, and French illustrator design, models, and theatrical staging. Embedded and nationalist, Paul Iribe. There is one S chapter dedicated to her female friend- in the drama of a Chanel show is the vision of its ships, in particular with society force, original founder, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (1883- Misia Sert, but the majority of writing focuses on her male companions. In her 1971). When we hear the term “Chanel,” we think of quest to discover what these relation- the Chanel suit, strings of pearls, the little black dress, ships “might offer beyond their anec- and basic, classic style. Individuals who look to Chanel dotal value,” Garelick outlines the lives of these men, their political convictions haute couture understand that a legacy exists behind and connections, and their influences the label, and we want to know the woman who can on Chanel. The result of these chapters be classified as one of the most influential fashion is a repetitive narration where the men reside in the foreground of the story designers of the twentieth century. while Chanel rests in the background Rhonda Garelick takes up this task Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette in her biography, Mademoiselle: Coco Wore to the Revolution (2006), in which Chanel and the Pulse of History. In open- she invites the reader into the Queen’s ing her book, Garelick establishes that wardrobe and melds clothing into the “[a]lthough Chanel was born in rural fabric of French politics. Garelick’s poverty and raised in an orphanage analysis and narrative is not as compel- with little formal education, by the ling as Weber’s, though she achieves time she was thirty her name was a her goal when focusing on the First and household word in France… By 1930, Second World Wars. when Chanel was forty-seven, she The early stages of Chanel’s career employed 2,400 people and was worth coincided with the First World War, at least $15 million – close to $1 billion when active women turned to the in today’s currency” (xiv). The book more practical styles that she promoted. follows Chanel’s successful career, Chanel utilized jersey, a textile of the but Garelick wants to approach the masses, and converted it into desirable, designer’s life through an examination wearable clothing for the upper reaches of her relationship with politics and his- of society, while emphasizing thin tory, recognizing that “[w]hat remains bodies rather than prewar curvaceous- to be considered is how her work and ness. The war generated opportunities art themselves partook of European that enabled her business to prosper and and her design history comes through politics, and what her many intriguing its context offers the reader a tangible as something of an afterthought. love affairs might offer beyond their understanding of Chanel’s place in Garelick informs her readers that anecdotal value” (xvi). This approach history. “Thin, androgynous, simply Chanel was known to bend the truth is reminiscent of Caroline Weber’s dressed in striped naval-uniform-style of her own past, which indicates that May 2015 35 the historian would need to proceed Throughout the book, Garelick For readers interested in design history, with caution when uncovering her emphasizes Chanel’s connections to the final chapter does not disappoint. story. However, Gabrielle Chanel men who were nationalistic and anti- The author takes the reader along the forged her own history and should be Semitic, and that Chanel shared those journey of Chanel’s return to fash- placed in the driver’s seat rather than sentiments. It was therefore no surprise ion after years of post-WWII exile in chauffeured from one lover to the next. to the reader that once the Nazi occu- Switzerland. We are led into her studio pation of Paris had been established, occupied by seamstresses and models, Chanel reemerges in the final chapters. Chanel returned to her home at the all directed by Chanel. In these years, Here, Garelick presents the notion of Ritz, a converted “Gestapo barracks” the United States embraced her brand “Chanelism,” in which “‘Chanel’ had (327), to reclaim her residence (though and American icons such as Jacqueline become a concept, a movement, a way she was demoted to smaller rooms) and Kennedy endorsed her style. Garelick of life, a vast constellation of visual live side by side with the ascendancy. shows how Chanel’s appeal came associations and references instantly The most distressing story revealed by full circle. Due to the sophistication recognizable to millions of women in Garelick involves the reminiscences and artistry of her designs, the public Europe and the United States” (251). of sisters Viviane Forrester and Lady was able to conveniently forget her The author compares Chanel’s aesthetic Christiane Françoise Swaythling, dark past. to fascist design principles surrounding whose aunt, Louise, was a Jewish symbols and uniforms, noting that the Today, we want to know the sordid details of her fascinating story along with the origins of her influence upon our material lives. Garelick empha- Garelick places all aspects of sizes just how prominent and lasting Chanel’s involvement with her artistic ideas remain. Many cloth- ing articles that appear among us as the Nazis on the table, making everyday attire for women originated with Chanel seizing men’s clothes and the two chapters on fascism converting masculine forthrightness into feminine ease. As for the woman and the Second World War behind the runway spectacle, we are left contemplating an individual of the book’s pinnacle. immense artistic talent, controlling in nature, unlucky in love, and disturbing in her political associations and beliefs. Chanel logo appeared only one year woman relegated to a maid’s quar- Even after one digests this fine volume, after the swastika made its ominous ters. Stepping out of a chauffeured there is still more to contemplate about arrival in Nazi Germany. She explains car occupied by her Nazi boyfriend, this complex woman. How much she how the Nazis constructed attractive Chanel entered the unoccupied home was a product of her time or one who clothing that complemented the male of the sisters’ aunt and claimed some shaped her surroundings remains open body, and that Chanel applied their antique furniture in order to cash in on to debate. masculine chic to female clothing. the plunder. Chanel was also involved Her style offered women “an alternate in Nazi schemes, including an unsuc- route to the manipulations of fascism, cessful attempt to negotiate a settle- an ostensibly emancipatory worldview ment with Winston Churchill in 1943. that seemed an appealing antidote to Garelick places all aspects of Chanel’s constraining sexism and reactionary involvement with the Nazis on the politics, while achieving nonetheless table, making the two chapters on the psychological goals of fascism” fascism and the Second World War (295). Readers learn that the fascists the book’s pinnacle. Garelick holds uniformed a nation and Chanel Chanel fully responsible for her uniformed women around the world – actions, and, in doing so, she grants Sarah Wiggins is Associate Professor and that, unlike the Nazis, her popular- her historical agency. in the Department of History. ity survived. 36 Bridgewater Review.