Product Description
Chanel is credited not simply with giving us the little black dress and boxy jackets, but popularising 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, and because of this she was the only person in fashion to be named “Time” magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century. Karen Karbo weaves Chanel’s life story into chapter themes that subtly convey life lessons and leave the reader utterly entranced with Chanel’s amazing individuality, confidence, and determination. The story of the designer’s extraordinary life and rise to unprecedented success is both compelling and admirable. And while the great Coco may have launched her singular empire a hundred years ago, her methods, attitude, and elan are as relevant and modern as ever, and perhaps more appealing. Chanel was a self-made girl who knew how to make do with less until she had more, discover and stay true to her own style, problem-solve using the tools at hand, and do it all with seemingly effortless flair. This book is charming, captivating, and ultimately inspiring.
This was one of the worst books I have ever read. The author’s writing style was very boring, incoherent and had very lame attempts at humor. Definitely not worth the $13, such a time waster, Save your money and buy something better.
If you are looking for a meaty biography on Coco, this isn’t it. To be fair, the book delivers exactly what is promised in the title. The author presents her version of the history of Coco Chanel and what she thinks of as Coco’s life lessons.
Here are the problems I had with the book:
1. The first half of the book tells the story of Coco’s life in a logical sequence. The second half of the book begins jumping forward and backwards in Coco’s life in order to illustrate “gospel lessons”. This can be frustrating and starts to feel somewhat haphazard.
2. I didn’t always agree with the author’s analysis of of how a particular “Coco anecdote” supported a particular life lesson.
What I liked:
1. The author presented biographical information on Coco that I have never read before. Only a Coco-fanatic would have located some of this info.
All in all, this is fun chick-lit, not a substantial read. Get it at a low price point and enjoy it for what it is.
Getting better acquainted with our icons brings us a step closer to understanding history and our society. Women who would like some extra encouragement to work towards their dreams should read this. This book will be both entertaining and reignite your passions.
Upon reading some of the other reviews I’d like to agree with both the positive and the negative. I found some parts of this book to be interesting. Especially the parts about Chanel no.5 and her lovers. However, I thought that the book should have been more centered on Chanel and not nearly as much on the author. There were also several comments on how pricey Chanel’s products were both now and then. I didn’t find this necessary as the brand is obviously targeted towards the upper class demographic.
Although there are many books about Coco Chanel, this one stands apart from the rest. Not just another biography, the author Karen Karbo extracts the lessons from the story of Chanel’s life and frames them in a way that is useful to the modern woman. Written with a great deal of wit, I wanted to laugh out loud at times, especially when the author writes about a visit to Didier Ludot in Paris to find a vintage Chanel jacket. Karbo is charmingly cheeky and does not gush over the myth of Chanel. She writes with refreshing honesty about Chanel’s many flaws including Chanel’s disdain for her arch rival Elsa Schiaparelli, her ill-fated affair with a Nazi officer during the war, and her legendary snarky temperment. And still, the book presents a witty and delightful manifesto for living life fearlessly, passionately and with elegance like the revered Coco Chanel.