Chanel: The Couturiere at Work

by Shelley Tobin and Amy de la Haye

Book Overview

As bold and vital as the styles that inspired it, Surfers, Soulies, Skinheads and Skaters goes back to the source, charting the circle of street style from the forties to the nineties, and featuring... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879516399
• ISBN13: 9780879516390
• Release Date: December 1995
• Publisher: Overlook Books
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.0" x 11.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Chanel The Couturiere @ wwork

One of the Chanel's best couture book, I'm so happy that I got this book from you & loving it!

A 'must' for any serious fashion collection

Chanel: The Couturiere At Work is a lovely survey of fashion icon Coco Chanel and her innovative fashion ideas, and belongs in any collection boasting a focus on fashion. Her style is examined in depth; from her first early creations in the early 20th century through her design changes over the decades and her creations through the House of Chanel. Loaded with black and white and color examples from all the periods, Chanel The Couturiere At Work is a 'must' for any serious fashion collection.

"Coco" and why she mattered ...

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel is adequately profiled in this book; from her very humble beginnings to her rise and fall -- and rise again -- this is an insightful biography of the woman and her work, which were for all intents and purposes inseparable. The authors capture not just the drive and determination which propelled Coco to the heights, but shrewdly illustrate how startlingly ahead of her time the designer was, and how much her work and ideas permeate fashion, even to the present day. Don't let the absurdities and excess of so much Chanel on the runway today fool you -- this woman was a visionary in her time, and the quintessence of her designs was paradoxically American; sporty, practical, possessed of a spare elegance, though she was in every way a Frenchwoman through and through. The early drawings of her first dresses are included here and are fascinating. Precious few exist, because -- as they book tells -- Coco Chanel preferred to design on the body, using live models. She was a perfectionist par excellence who introduced trends that transcended their time, and this modest book is a worthy addition to your library if you have any interest at all in the foundations of twentieth century fashion. There are many books on Chanel; I haven't read them all, so this isn't a comparative review, just the opinions of a fan of the couturiere as artist.

For Chanel-cluless to Chanel-expert

(nermin8@yahoo.com) How to recall sectet life of the most influencal fashion Mademmoiselle of all times? For the first Chanel-biographyst it was a nightmare...So we should give a huge respect to evry new Chanel biography, and not just for this reason... Also this biography deserves great respect. Though, some questions aren't yet answered (they may never be), this colourful book, introduces us to some new detailes about the "Chanel cut" as well as Coco herself. Must read to any haute couture lover or dreamer...