The Collection

By Gioia Diliberto

Book Overview

Isabelle Varlet, charming and na?ve, comes from a long line of seamstresses in a small town in France. A series of unfortunate events and her prodigious sartorial talent carry her to Paris, which in the wake of World War I is electric with new life. When Isabelle takes a job in the atelier of Coco Chanel, the rising star of haute couture, she finds herself in the heart of a glamorous and ruthless world filled with arrogant designers, handsome men, beautiful women, and fashion thieves who prowl Paris hoping to steal designs before they hit the runway.

In Chanel's workshop, Isabelle thrives on the time-honored techniques of couture -- the pains-taking hand stitches, the perfect fall of fabric -- and the sleek, pared-down lines of "Mademoiselle's" revolutionary style. As Isabelle brings an exquisite dress to life for the fall collection -- from its embryonic origins in humble muslin to its finished form in the finest silk -- she navigates the tempestuous moods of Chanel, the cutthroat antics of her fellow workers, and her own search for love.

Just as she did in her critically acclaimed novel I Am Madame X, Gioia Diliberto brings a rich historical moment to life through her vivid and compelling storytelling. Her penetrating research and imagination are gracefully woven together in this poignant story filled with larger-than-life characters embroiled in scandalous tales, passionate love affairs, and extraordinary careers. The Collection is an exuberantly entertaining read.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743280660
• ISBN13: 9780743280662
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

The pleasures of work

This is a warm bath of a book, a well told story that immerses the reader in another time. My favorite aspect of the book, though, is the skill and complexity with which it addresses seamstress Isabelle Varlet's love of her work. The reader sees how it carries her through the ups and downs of her life. But at the same time the workplace isn't idealized. To the contrary, the challenges of Isabelle's pursuing the work she loves within a difficult workplace run by quite a difficult boss are convincingly delineated. All in all, a great and satisfying read.

A wonderful --and wonderfully readable -- novel

You don't need to be a fashionista or a seamstress, or even know what a gusset is, to love The Collection. This novel is really about the intense joy of creativity, about making beauty in the face of whatever life throws at you. For Isabelle Varlet and Coco Chanel the medium is women's clothing, but theirs are the same struggles any artist faces-- to realize a vision and have the world acknowledge it. I loved the contrasting characters of Isabelle Varlet and Coco Chanel-- Isabelle is that rare "good" fictional character who isn't the least bit boring and Coco is of course completely magnetizing. I also loved wandering with Diliberto through 1920s Paris, from dingy workrooms to aristocratic drawing rooms. It is very hard to write historical fiction that comes to life-- the Collection succeeds brilliantly.

The Seamstress

I believe the author captured the essence of Chanel's stingent personality through the character of the seamstress.