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mariebitt's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
4.75
megancmahon's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.0
I didn't enjoy this one of Picardie's as much as I enjoyed Miss Dior. It felt a little rushed, as though we were barely covering Chanel's childhood before we were whisked off to her many love affairs. I also hoped that Picardie would discuss more of what actually made her FAMOUS: the way she revolutionized women's fashion, her disavowal of corsets, her support for freedom of movement.
My other beef with this book is that it is FAR too apologetic about Chanel's ties to Nazis. Picardie describes this chapter of her life as being a "grey area," and it is true that if France were to try and prosecute every collaborator after the war, they'd be dealing with the grocers who sold the Germans food and people who served them at restaurants - which isn't entirely fair. However, Chanel did much more than this - she had two German lovers (which Picardie describes as "a stunning error in judgment" instead of simple collaboration) and was actively involved in using Germans laws trying to swindle her Jewish business partners out of their rightful share of her business - which, although not necessarily collaboration, certainly reflect the actions of a morally grey person. I thought that this biography was too focused on being laudatory to properly consider what kind of person Coco Chanel actually was.
Overall though, I enjoyed reading this book and I like Picardie's writing style. There are a few areas I wish she'd expanded on, but I thought this was an interesting portrait of a person who led an interesting life, even if she wasn't a good person.
My other beef with this book is that it is FAR too apologetic about Chanel's ties to Nazis. Picardie describes this chapter of her life as being a "grey area," and it is true that if France were to try and prosecute every collaborator after the war, they'd be dealing with the grocers who sold the Germans food and people who served them at restaurants - which isn't entirely fair. However, Chanel did much more than this - she had two German lovers (which Picardie describes as "a stunning error in judgment" instead of simple collaboration) and was actively involved in using Germans laws trying to swindle her Jewish business partners out of their rightful share of her business - which, although not necessarily collaboration, certainly reflect the actions of a morally grey person. I thought that this biography was too focused on being laudatory to properly consider what kind of person Coco Chanel actually was.
Overall though, I enjoyed reading this book and I like Picardie's writing style. There are a few areas I wish she'd expanded on, but I thought this was an interesting portrait of a person who led an interesting life, even if she wasn't a good person.
eleven_hummingbird's review against another edition
3.0
The first of two biographies I selected on Chanel, who I’ve absolutely fallen in love with. This is by far the shorter of the two, as I wanted to familiarize myself with her story before reading a more substantial, academic account (seriously, good and proper 600+ page bios don’t fool around and I love it).
Picardie’s account has its pleasures and strengths, but I was frustrated with the work as a whole. Foremostly, the biography felt unfocused. Considering its length, too much of the book’s entirety is spent on her love affairs. While these affairs are often as important as they are interesting, Picardie tends to linger on or over-detail them for more than is necessary. Chanel’s perfume history is sufficiently discussed, but her clothing is disappointingly only really detailed towards the end of the book, focused on her later collections in the 1950s.
Chanel’s supposed lesbianism is mentioned and briefly discussed at several points, but this really could have been expanded upon further. Picardie’s dreamy, image-heavy prose in the introduction is pleasant enough and its return towards the end is fitting, if somewhat jarring.
Picardie does, however, do a great job illustrating the complexities of writing an accurate narrative of Chanel, highlighting the issues of conflicting accounts, evidence, and Chanel’s own efforts to muddle her past. She also is keen to highlight early influences in Chanel’s life, both the traumatic and artistic, with her later work and character.
Having now finished, I’m not sure if I actually enjoyed this biography or if I just adore Chanel.
Picardie’s account has its pleasures and strengths, but I was frustrated with the work as a whole. Foremostly, the biography felt unfocused. Considering its length, too much of the book’s entirety is spent on her love affairs. While these affairs are often as important as they are interesting, Picardie tends to linger on or over-detail them for more than is necessary. Chanel’s perfume history is sufficiently discussed, but her clothing is disappointingly only really detailed towards the end of the book, focused on her later collections in the 1950s.
Chanel’s supposed lesbianism is mentioned and briefly discussed at several points, but this really could have been expanded upon further. Picardie’s dreamy, image-heavy prose in the introduction is pleasant enough and its return towards the end is fitting, if somewhat jarring.
Picardie does, however, do a great job illustrating the complexities of writing an accurate narrative of Chanel, highlighting the issues of conflicting accounts, evidence, and Chanel’s own efforts to muddle her past. She also is keen to highlight early influences in Chanel’s life, both the traumatic and artistic, with her later work and character.
Having now finished, I’m not sure if I actually enjoyed this biography or if I just adore Chanel.
theresidentbookworm's review against another edition
3.0
A good biography should do a few things. It should offer a complex, detailed view of a person's life. It should inform the reader of the basic facts of that person's life and lift the veil (as much as is possible) from their myths. It should separate fact from fiction and allow readers to make their conclusions on that person. It should be well-researched and engaging.
Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life does very few of these things. I am incredibly disappointed because I have always been fascinated by Coco Chanel's life and work but knew very little about her beyond the Lifetime Shirley MacLaine movie Coco Chanel. I wanted to know more, but I finished this biography with more questions than answers. What is true? What did Chanel make up?
Picardie does a terrible job of separating fact from fiction. She usually begins by offering what Chanel told various people at different points in her life about herself. Her point seems to be to highlight how Chanel made her own myths and changed her stories, but Picardie never offers anything definitively true out of those statements. It made me wonder if we just don't know that much factually about Chanel, but if so just tell me that. She uses good contemporary sources of Chanel and even had access to Chanel's grand-niece and close friend, but how she treats them in her writing muddles the waters even further.
Perhaps it is Justine Picardie's background that makes her ill-suited as a biographer. She is the editor-in-chief for Harper's Bazaar and Town and Country UK with a background in editing and journalism. She is a good writer, and Coco Chanel earns three stars from simply because it is engaging if not as informative as I would like. What Picardie is not, however, is a historian. She does not seem to know how to separate fact from fiction or even herself from the subject.
As much as I like Chanel, I feel as if Picardie treated her with too much reverence as a subject. Maybe this comes from the cooperation of Chanel's grand-niece and friend, but either way I wish she would examine her subject with a little more objectivity. I feel like she only skimmed the surface of who Chanel was and why she is complicated. A biographer's job is not to always give their subject the benefit of the doubt. Her attitude towards Chanel is particularly maddening because Picardie rarely references Chanel's other biographers and usually only to disparage them.
I did learn more about Chanel, which is the goal of a biography, but I wish I had consumed one that had the steady hand of a historian at the wheel. If you're interested in Chanel, read another biography first. Come back to this one when you have more of a background in Chanel's life and can try to sort through the pieces of what's true and what's not.
Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life does very few of these things. I am incredibly disappointed because I have always been fascinated by Coco Chanel's life and work but knew very little about her beyond the Lifetime Shirley MacLaine movie Coco Chanel. I wanted to know more, but I finished this biography with more questions than answers. What is true? What did Chanel make up?
Picardie does a terrible job of separating fact from fiction. She usually begins by offering what Chanel told various people at different points in her life about herself. Her point seems to be to highlight how Chanel made her own myths and changed her stories, but Picardie never offers anything definitively true out of those statements. It made me wonder if we just don't know that much factually about Chanel, but if so just tell me that. She uses good contemporary sources of Chanel and even had access to Chanel's grand-niece and close friend, but how she treats them in her writing muddles the waters even further.
Perhaps it is Justine Picardie's background that makes her ill-suited as a biographer. She is the editor-in-chief for Harper's Bazaar and Town and Country UK with a background in editing and journalism. She is a good writer, and Coco Chanel earns three stars from simply because it is engaging if not as informative as I would like. What Picardie is not, however, is a historian. She does not seem to know how to separate fact from fiction or even herself from the subject.
As much as I like Chanel, I feel as if Picardie treated her with too much reverence as a subject. Maybe this comes from the cooperation of Chanel's grand-niece and friend, but either way I wish she would examine her subject with a little more objectivity. I feel like she only skimmed the surface of who Chanel was and why she is complicated. A biographer's job is not to always give their subject the benefit of the doubt. Her attitude towards Chanel is particularly maddening because Picardie rarely references Chanel's other biographers and usually only to disparage them.
I did learn more about Chanel, which is the goal of a biography, but I wish I had consumed one that had the steady hand of a historian at the wheel. If you're interested in Chanel, read another biography first. Come back to this one when you have more of a background in Chanel's life and can try to sort through the pieces of what's true and what's not.
lucyfionabooks's review against another edition
3.0
Actual Rating: 3.75 stars
This was a bit of a strange read for me - I found it really interesting but at the same time I didn't really enjoy reading it. I wasn't really a fan of the way it was written. I also found it difficult to follow as a random name would be introduced in the middle of a chapter, with their whole life history being inserted. Because of this, I had to re-read quite a few pages to work out how each person fitted into Chanel's life. However, as I said it was very interesting and in-depth and I learned a lot that I didn't know about her life!
This was a bit of a strange read for me - I found it really interesting but at the same time I didn't really enjoy reading it. I wasn't really a fan of the way it was written. I also found it difficult to follow as a random name would be introduced in the middle of a chapter, with their whole life history being inserted. Because of this, I had to re-read quite a few pages to work out how each person fitted into Chanel's life. However, as I said it was very interesting and in-depth and I learned a lot that I didn't know about her life!
bentleyemma's review against another edition
2.0
I really enjoyed learning about the life of Coco Chanel & this is a comprehensive history. At some points though the writing was just too over the top for me, clutching at straws to make associations that weren't really there. I think the worst one for me was ''Give them chains. Women adore chains.' Perhaps she was being characteristically provocative; or possibly this was as close as she could get to an admission that she had not stopped yearning for the links that bind a woman to a man'. I mean really?! I think Mademoiselle would be unimpressed. If it is not backed up by quotes or facts then I don't think it has a place in a biography.
atsundarsingh's review
2.0
Any allure this book has comes from the subject. The writing, though direct, lacks the polish and smoothness that draws one inexplicably forward into a story, and so the biography comes off (potentially on purpose) as distant as Chanel must have seemed to be at times herself. I enjoyed the little bout of history, but I'm not sure I'd recommend this to anyone who didn't already love fashion or Chanel. Not a bad read overall.
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