A review by hayhay321
Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History by Rhonda K. Garelick

3.0

This was an extremely interesting, if overly dense book. The amount of information Garelick compiled is just staggering, which makes it difficult at times to keep details straight. I did think the author took some liberties and made some sweeping assumptions based on a very small pile of evidence regarding some areas of Coco's life. But she did provide sufficient corroborating details in many of her stories, and I think it makes sense, after having gone to such great lengths in her research, to try and find connections in order to make sense of Chanel's motivations. By the end, the overall sense I got of Chanel's life is that it was really, quite sad. She was constantly let down by the men in her life, and she never truly developed any friendship with women that weren't at least in large part motivated by a sense of rivalry and competition. For someone who had so much, and gave so much to the world that still endures today, she never seemed, at least in this telling of her life, to find true happiness or satisfaction. I was blown away by the number of items that are considered staples in today's fashion world that were introduced by Chanel, and how unconventional they were at the time. I was also shocked by story after story about her personal life, from the cavalier way she twisted the truth about her past, to her involvement with the Nazis, to finding out that she first sought fame on the stage before finding her calling in the fashion industry. If you want to get to know the woman behind the name, this is an intriguing and comprehensive look at her life from start to end.