Vaughan, Hal. Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel’s Secret War. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.
Wallach, Janet. Chanel: Her Style and Her Life. New York: Doubleday, 1998.
White, Palmer. Elsa Schiaparelli: Empress of Paris Fashion. London: Aurum Press, 1996.
Catalogs
Koda, Harold, and Andrew Bolton. Chanel. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005.
Articles
Flanner, Janet. “31, rue Cambon.” The New Yorker, March 14, 1931; www.newyorker.com/magazine/1931/03/14.
Herndon, Booton. “Paris Was Yesterday.” Virginia Quarterly Review 70, no. 4 (1994); www.vqronline.org/essay/paris-was-yesterday.
“In True Form: Claire Shaeffer Demystifies Couture.” Palm Springs Life, November 2008; www.palmspringslife.com/in-true-form.
Interviews
Clarissa M. Esguerra (assistant curator, Costume and Textiles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art), in discussion with the author, Los Angeles, February 11, 2016.
Claire B. Shaeffer (sewing expert, teacher, and Chanel scholar), in discussion with the author, Palm Springs, CA, February 22, 2016.
Acknowledgements: When my editor, Howard Reeves, asked me if I would be interested in doing a book on Coco Chanel, I immediately said YES! So I thank Howard for giving me a chance to study the life and work of this fascinating woman. At Abrams, I also appreciate the help of Masha Gunic, editorial assistant; Erich Lazar, the brilliant book designer who enhanced the beauty of every page; Pam Notarantonio, associate art director; and Amy Vreeland, managing editor. And my thanks to Warren Drabek of Express Permissions for tracking down images.
Many people helped me research and understand Chanel’s work. I’m particularly grateful to Clarissa M. Esguerra, Nancy Carcione, and Leigh Wishner at the Costume and Textiles Department of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for giving me a private viewing of Chanel’s vintage clothing. An extra thank you to Nancy for finding vital information in the department’s library. I also want to thank Claire Shaeffer, a scholar on Chanel couture construction techniques, for showing me vintage pieces from her own collection and explaining the exquisite tailoring.
A huge thank you to my agent, Kevin O’Connor, for his advice and support. And I thank my husband Michael Rubin for hunting down Coco’s logo on lampposts in Westminster, London, and taking pictures. As always, I’m indebted to my son, Andrew, for his invaluable technical assistance. Enormous thanks to my friends at Lunch Bunch for their critiques and interest, and a special shout-out to Martha Tolles for lending me her Chanel suit and blouse and giving me the pleasure of wearing the real thing.
Index of Searchable Terms
Amiot, Félix
anti-Semitism
art scene
Aubazine, orphanage
Balenciaga, Cristóbal
Ballard, Bettina
ballets
balls, costume
Balsan, Étienne
Beaux, Ernest
Biarritz
Blum, Léon
Capel, Arthur “Boy,”
death of
Chanel, Adrienne
Chanel, Antoinette
Chanel, Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco,” See also specific topics
Chanel, Julia
Chanel No 5
Chasnel
childhood
orphanage in
Churchill, Winston
Cocteau, Jean
colors
Poiret choice of
comeback
reception of
corsets
cross-dressing
Dalí, Salvador
Deauville
Dincklage, Hans Günther “Spatz” von
Dior, Christian
New Look of
Doucet, Jacques
dresses
gypsy-style
jersey
little black
Russia and
silk satin day
tricolor
embroidery
employees. See also models
on strike
family
in childhood
at Moulins
fashion. See also models; Paris, fashion designers in
Fath, Jacques
films
fitting sessions
for films
Galante, Pierre
Galeries Lafayette
Great Depression
Grosvenor, Hugh Richard Arthur “Bendor,”
Gypsy (Roma) people
handbags
hats
Hollywood
jerseys
as dresses
jewelry
pearl
lies
about childhood
little black dress
Longchamp Racecourse
models. See also Sert, Misia
fitting
hair of
Morand, Paul
Moulins
museum exhibits
My Best Girl
Nazis
dating
New York
Operation Modellhut
orphanage, Aubazine
black dresses and
Palasse, Gabrielle
Paris. See also rue Cambon
costume balls in
Galeries Lafayette in
Hollywood and
Paris, fashion designers in. See also Poiret, Paul; Schiaparelli, Elsa “Schiap”
Dior as
La Pausa
Pavlovich, Dmitri
Pavlovna, Marie
pearls
perfume
Wertheimer brothers and
in World War II
Pickford, Mary
Place Vendôme
Poiret, Paul
Ritz hotel
Royallieu
rue Cambon
comeback at
strike at
World War II and
Russia
sailor clothes
Saint Laurent, Yves
Saumur
Schiaparelli, Elsa “Schiap,”
employees and
Sert, Misia
Slavic style
suits
surrealist
Swanson, Gloria
Switzerland
Vichy
Vogue
Vreeland, Diana
Wertheimer, Pierre and Paul
World War I
World War II. See also Nazis
Chanel No 5 in
Operation Modellhut in
rue Cambon and
Worth, Charles Frederick