Intimate Chanel

Every detail of the life and work of Coco Chanel has been scrutinized, it seems, in books, interviews, articles, and films - everything, that is, except the details of her private self: the importance she attached to symbolism, esotericism, and poetry; the men she loved; her family; and above all the nephew whom she raised as her own son, André Palasse. Now André's daughter Gabrielle Labrunie, Chanel's sole direct descendant and her close confidant for over forty years, has agreed for friendship's sake to open her archives to the author and share her memories of her great-aunt, whom she fondly called "Auntie Coco". In five chronological sections - Darkness, Invisible Realities, Poetic States, "Correspondences," and Resonances - this book reveals the private world of Coco Chanel, penetrating to the heart of the Chanel mystique. The personal possessions and documents shown in these pages - many of them never before seen and reproduced here for the first time - are all fragments of this intimate world, including precious gifts from her great love, Boy Capel, and from the Duke of Westminster; cherished books and furniture; favorite accessories and jewelry; her personal wardrobe; and the interiors of her private apartment on rue Cambon.