COCO CHANEL A BIOGRAPHY

A groundbreaking biography of one of the twentieth century's greatestfashion icons, reissued to coincide with the biopic Coco avant ChanelCoco Chanel's genius for fashion may have been distilled in simplicity,but her life was an extravaganza. A brilliant array of luminaries fellunder her spell - Picasso, Churchill, Cocteau; lovers included the GrandDuke Dmitri; the English roué, Boy Capel; a French poet; a German spy andthe Duke of Westminster, who offered to leave his wife for herpermanently, if she would only bear him an heir. Paradoxically,though she might have been regarded in some lights as a pioneeringfeminist - sacrificing marriage to a revolutionary career in couture -Chanel was utterly baffled by the idea of women's politics. Educatedwomen? ‘A woman's education consists of two lessons: never leave thehouse without stockings, never go out without a hat.' Chanel's risefrom penniless orphan to millionaire designer - ‘inventing'sportswear, the little black dress and No. 5 - makes compelling reading,not least because she was inclined to design her own life as deftly as shedid her fashions. Axel Madsen negotiates Chanel's smoke screens with skill,bringing this tantalizing woman to life in all her alluring complexity.