Dear Santa, I want a Chanel Doll for Christmas!

Dear Santa,
I've been a very good girl this year. I did all my chores every day and I orchestrated my mother's three moves in eight months. I ate more vegetables than ever, including lots of broccoli which is not really to my liking. I was kind and patient with all, even when it wasn't appreciated or reciprocated. 
I wasn't going to ask for anything this year but I just cannot help myself. On my way to work at the museum I stopped to admire these oh-so-cute Coco Chanel dolls in the window of Chanel. I think they are just over the top fabulous!! I would never buy such a thing for myself, but maybe you might put one under the tree for me.
I hope you will enjoy a relaxing holiday after your Christmas duties are done for the year. 
Wishing you all the best,
Ingrid
P.S. I've attached a photo for you, just in case you are not sure which doll it is.

Announcing the Winners!

Let's party!! It is time to announce the winners of my blog giveaway. I wish I could offer a token of my appreciation to all that participated. Thank you for your feedback. It really was a pleasure to read your comments.


The winner of a copy of the newly released French Essence by Vicki Archer is Janet of FrenchBlue.












The winner of the Coco Avant Chanel dvd is High Heeled Life.














And the winners of my art notecards are Nathalie of Dolce Dreams and Laura of The Beau Monde Gallery.

If you are a winner, please email me at your earliest convenience so that I can arrange shipping to you.

Book Review: Fifty Dresses that Changed the World

Given my fascination for dresses, it probably comes as no surprise that I could not resist buying this book which is one in a series published by the Design Museum. Others include Shoes, Cars, Chairs etcetera. And while it hardly seems likely that any object would change the world, it does provide a compact survey of 50 dresses that impacted contemporary fashion design from 1915 forward. Some of the dresses on the list of top fifty are: The Goddess Dress by Madame Vionnet (1931), Chanel's Jersey Flapper Dress (1926), YSL's Mondrian dress (1965), the Paper dress (1966), Vivienne Westwood's Mini-Crini (1985), Versace's Safety-pin dres (1994)...

If I had written this book, I would have gone back to around 1778-1779, when Marie Antoinette stepped out of her enormous paniers and adopted the milk-maid look with polonaise a deux fins or pleated caraco and apron of linon a fleurs. And who can argue against the revolutionary impact of Marie Antoinette wearing the lightweight chemise dress known as the gaulle. The outcry from  Elizabeth Vigee-Lebrun's portrait of the queen wearing this "undignified" and "indecent" gown was vitriolic. But obviously that wasn't the mandate of this particular book.

In any case, reading this book did set off a light-bulb for me when I read about Hussein Chalayan's Buried Dress collection of 1993.  In this collection for his graduation show at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design, he buried the garments in his back garden and left them to decompose. The results were not pretty but caused a fashion sensation and established him as a pioneer in the world of fashion. After I finish documenting my mother's dress collection, I may use this concept as a stepping stone for a process driven conceptual project with her dresses. That alone made the book worth the cover price.

Title: Fifty Dresses that Changed the World
Published by: Conran Octopus Ltd. 2009
Category: Non-fiction, fashion
Number of Pages: 112
Price: US$20, Canada $26, UK 12.99

Chanel and Sailor Chic

Where does inspiration come from? That is a question that lingers in my mind, especially when I think I have come up with an original idea only to discover that someone else has beat me to it.

On January 7th, Christina Binkley wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal about the wave in sailor chic for spring fashions and linked the trend to the 2009 movie Coco before Chanel featuring Audrey Tautou. She wrote:

"A popular film and several recent books about Coco Chanel have everything to do with the mariniere revival. When the French-language film "Coco Before Chanel" debuted in April 2009, it helped ignite new interest in the designer's 60 year career and habit of adapting menswear to her own devices. The marieniere is so closely connected with Ms. Chanel that its use in fashion is often attributed to her. The actress Audrey Tautou wore a mariniere in her role as Ms. Chanel."

In art as in fashion, it is sometimes difficult to pin down the source of a movement or a trend. But I had to wonder whether it really was the movie that inspired Jean Paul Gaultier, Riccardo Tisci, Michael Bastien, Proenza Schouler to design marine-inspired looks for spring 2010. And the reason that I ask that question is because there was a show called Les Marins Font La Mode (Sailor Chic) at the Musee National de la Marine last spring in Paris. I had the good fortune to walk through with the commissaire Delphine Allannic-Costa and learned a great deal from her. 

The show began with a display of marine uniforms and ended with a spectacular display of contemporary haute couture fashions that incorporated the sailor theme(including Givenchy, Dior, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Kenzo). In between, the exhibition traced the history of sailor chic in fashion back as far as the 19th Century, years before Chanel was even born. In Victorian times,  anchor embroidery, striped designs, navy-inspired hats, and Sunday sailor outfits for rowing on the Seine were popular. As well, Queen Victoria had navy outfits made for her children, a trend which was then adopted across Europe. And while Chanel may have drawn on the marine influence in her Deauville creations, it is a myth that she alone inspired sailor chic.

Having seen the exhibition Les Marins Font La Mode in Paris last spring, I would speculate that the sailor chic trend for spring is more likely to have come from this incredible show. After all, the exhibition was three years in the making and many of the designers who lent outfits to the show would have known about it and perhaps seen the show themselves. What do you think?

Movie Review: Coco Chanel From Director Christian Duguay

Shirley MacLaine is an improbable Chanel. Granted she has the gravelly voice and is both eccentric and cantankerous, but somehow I could never really believe that she embodied the elegant Coco Chanel (especially with her heavy American accent).  Obviously, that is just my opinion because Shirley MacLaine received a Golden Globe nomination for this role but I was thankful that her role in the movie was relatively small.

Told in a series of flashbacks, this movie plays loose and fast with the story of Chanel's life. If you have read a great deal about Chanel, you may find this disconcerting, as I did. For example, there is a scene where Chanel orders a young male groom to drop his jodhpurs so that she can wear them riding instead of the long and cumbersome woman's riding habit. I also thought the costumes were somewhat weak, particularly when it came to a bland, ill-fitting sweater that the young Chanel, played by Barbora Bobulova, wears repeatedly in numerous scenes early in her adult life.

In spite of its many flaws, the movie is amusing and a must-see for die-hard Chanel fans, if only to allow comparison with the many other movies about Chanel's life. If any of my readers would like my dvd, please leave me a comment including your score on the Coco Questionnaire and I'll do another giveaway draw at the end of the week. This giveaway is limited to readers from Canada and the USA.

Coco Chanel
Directed by: Christian Duguay
Length of Movie: 139 Minutes
Rating: 14A
2008

Winner of the Blog Giveaway: The Gospel According to Coco Chanel

Thank you to all that entered my blog giveaway for a copy of The Gospel According to Chanel: Life Lessons from the World's Most Elegant Woman.

Although I wish I could give everyone who entered a copy of the book, there can only be one winner.
And the winner is Catherine of the blog A Thousand Clapping Hands. Congratulations Catherine. Please email me at artismylife@mac.com to claim your prize.

Art Documentary: Chanel, A Film by Eila Herson and Roberto Gueria

I think the best gifts come as a surprise on an ordinary day, and to my utter delight and wonder, I received a Chanel themed gift which included three films about the life of Coco Chanel.  I randomly chose to view this art film documentary by Ella Hershon and Roberto Guerra called Chanel.

Although I already knew the basic factual elements of Chanel's life, this documentary included interviews with her as well as numerous photos from her archives. There are photos of her many handsome lovers, (and there were many!) In addition, the film includes extensive footage of a young Karl Lagerfeld analyzing Chanel's style using collages that he made from old magazines and newspapers. It was amusing to see him when he was still young, eager to impress and without his many affectations. 

Interspersed through the video are many quotes from Chanel. (If I've made any errors in transcription, they were unintentional.) These are the quotes from Coco Chanel which struck a chord for me:

Fashion is a reflection of the time.


Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.


Simplicity does not mean poverty.


Happiness is something that you sometimes find while doing something else.


Jewelery isn't made to make you look rich, it is there to adorn you.


Let them copy. My ideas belong to everyone.

Only those with no memory insist on originality.


For a woman who had no time for anything other than work and her lovers, she certainly had a lot to say!



Chanel
A film by Eila Herson and Roberto Guerra
Narrated by Diana Quick
Written and Edited by Richard Howorth
RM Arts 1986

Take the Coco Questionnaire

As you may have noticed, I am now consumed by all things Chanel.  I am haunted by her elegance, her drive, and her fearless pursuit of her goals. I started to wonder - am I like her just a little? Take my questionnaire and find out for yourself.

1.  Are the dominant colours in your wardrobe black, white, beige and navy?


2.  Do you frown upon ruffles, bows, and extraneous embellishments?

3.  Do you live by the maxim elegance is refusal?

4.  Do you prefer quality over quantity?

5. Would you take apart a gift of expensive jewelery and craft it into something new, including mixing it with costume jewelery?

6. Do you wear perfume every day?

7. Are you single-minded of purpose, driven towards a goal?

8. Do you prefer to be in the company of men?


9. Are you fearless in your pursuit of your dreams?

10.  Would you agree with the statement that between your work and your lover, there is no time.

If you answered yes to ALL the questions, you are Coco Chanel incarnate!

If you answered yes to 7-9 of the questions, you could be a distant relative of Gabrielle Chanel.

If you answered yes to 4-6 of the questions, you are obviously a Chanel admirer.

If you answered yes to 1-3 of the questions, you need to read a copy of The Gospel According to Chanel. Enter my giveaway before the deadline of January 14th at midnight!

P.S.  My answers are (1. yes, 2. yes, 3. YES, 4. yes, 5. No way!, 6. YES!, 7. yes, 8. yes, 9. mostly, 10. no comment!).

Interview with Karen Karbo, Author of the Gospel According to Coco Chanel

Karen Karbo, the author of The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the Most Elegant Women wrote her first novel in the second grade called What Next? about five people who don't like each other and get stuck in an elevator. In the years that spanned those two books, she also tried her hand at physical therapy, film school, sailboat varnishing, serving customers as a counter person at Knott's Berry Farm, taking tickets and selling popcorn at an art house movie theatre, and reviewing movies for The Oregonian. She also published three novels (all of which were named New York Times Notable Books), four nonfiction books and three books for young adults. Her essays, articles and reviews have appeared such prestigious publications as the New York Times,  Elle, and Vogue. Karen's latest book, The Gospel According to Coco Chanel was so delightful that I could not resist asking her for an interview, which is presented below.

Ingrid:  Your other books are not about fashion. How and why did you chose the revered Coco Chanel as the subject for your book?

Karen: "In 2007, I published a book called How to Hepburn about the life of the great Katharine Hepburn. During the research, I came upon the 1969 musical "Coco" about the life of Coco Chanel, in which Hepburn improbably starred. That got me thinking about the life of Chanel. My own grandmother was a couturiere in Los Angeles in the 1950s and even though her work was definitely in the Dior school, she made sure I knew Chanel. It was only after I started reading about Chanel's life that I realized she'd made this extraordinary journey from the poor house - quite literally - to being one of the most celebrated women in the world."


Ingrid: What was the most surprising discovery you made about Chanel?

Karen: That she was an expert horsewoman. I knew she lived on a thoroughbred breeding farm with Etienne Balsan, her first lover, but I'd never realized she'd become such an accomplished rider herself.


Ingrid: If you were going to adopt one lesson from her life as a new year's resolution for 2010, which lesson would it be?

Karen: Learn your strengths and work them without second guessing yourself. When Chanel got started she had very little going for her. She was the second string mistress of a wealthy horse breeder. Otherwise, she had no money, no family, no other connections. But she had a few terrific ideas, in which she had absolute confidence.


Ingrid: How would you describe your own style?

Karen: Last year's J. Crew, I'm afraid to say.


Ingrid: Do you wear the mulberry, plum and rose boucle Chanel style jacket that you made?

Karen: The jacket is nearly finished. It's still awaiting its buttons.


Ingrid: Your experience at Didier Ludot's shop in Paris is something that probably all of us can relate to - being intimidated by a haughty salesperson. What did you do with the photo of le bulldog? (He died last year btw). Any chance you were contacted by Didier after your book was published?

Karen: Awwww! Le bulldog was the most adorable pup ever. Parisian sales people are a breed unto themselves; they really don't care if you buy what they are selling. And if you're a silly American in cowboy boots, they prefer that you just move along. I have the picture of the dog taped to the wall over my desk. And no, no word from Monsieur Ludot. Tant pis pour moi.


Ingrid: Chanel said "Elegance is refusal." What do you find it hardest to refuse?

Karen: The obvious answer is everything in the apple fritter food group. Chanel herself ate almost nothing. She used to say, "I eat like a race horse, standing up." But what I really have a hard time 'refusing' is throwing on a jeans and t-shirt and thinking I'm properly dressed. I live in Portland, Oregon, where you never have to own anythin gmore stylish than a pair of dark wash Levis. Plus, I've got a kid, a horse, and a career in which technically I never even have to get out of my bathrobe. There's just not that much call for me to invest in style. And yet I love it. I love beautifully made clothes and statement shoes and big jewelry. That I don't have much occasion to wear these things doesn't mean I need to look as if I'm a paycheck away from living under a bridge.


Ingrid: You have a delightfully refreshing wit and candor that seems to be rare among authors. Where does this come from?

Karen: That's nice of you to say. It's most likely a mix of genes and having spent my formative years as the wise-cracking best friend of the Homecoming queen.


Ingrid: Is there any other fashion icon that you would like to research and write about?

Karen: Although Chanel loathed her, I love Elsa Schiaparelli. Schiap, as she was known, believed clothes could be witty. She invented hot pink and added zippers to ski wear. She created buttons that looked like other things: peanuts, flowers, beetles. Chanel was rather strict. She was raised in an orphanage by nuns and when it came to clothes she shared their same sense of play.


Ingrid: In one of your author photos, I can see a huge stack of books beside your bed. What are you currently reading?

Karen: *Haha* Yes that stack keeps growing and growing. I just finished reading Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and I'm currently rereading Lolita.

Giveaway: The Gospel According to Coco Chanel

 

 Chanel Suit 1959

If you would like to win a copy of The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World's Most Elegant Woman by Karen Karbo, please leave a comment telling me what it is that you admire most about Coco Chanel.

For two chances to win, become a follower if you are not already.

For five chances to win, post the giveaway button on your blog.

The winner will be announced on Friday, January 15th! Bonne chance mes amis.

Book Review: The Gospel According to Coco Chanel

Books are among my favourite gifts and I was delighted to find The Gospel According to Coco Chanel under my Christmas tree.

Although there are many books about Coco Chanel, this one stands apart from the rest. Not just another biography, the author Karen Karbo extracts the lessons from the story of Chanel's life and frames them in a way that is useful to the modern woman. Written with a great deal of wit, I wanted to laugh out loud at times, especially when the author writes about a visit to Didier Ludot in Paris to find a vintage Chanel jacket. Karbo is charmingly cheeky and does not gush over the myth of Chanel. She writes with refreshing honesty about Chanel's many flaws including Chanel's disdain for her arch rival Elsa Schiaparelli, her ill-fated affair with a Nazi officer during the war, and her snarky temperment. And still, the book presents a witty and delightful manifesto for living life fearlessly, passionately and with elegance like the revered Coco Chanel.

Favourite Passage:

"One of the reasons we hold the magnificently imperfect Chanel up as the perfect manifestation of style is that she was never in doubt about what she liked and what suited her. Even when she was nothing more than Balsan's latest diversion, she appeared on his arm at the races with her small hat jammed on her head, her dark tailor-made suit, and a white blouse. People stared. Where was her platter hat? Her flounces, her tiered silken train, her petticoat, her boa?
To know who we are is a challenge for most of us. As dutiful consumers of media we are dogged by the feeling that we should exist in a state of eternal self-transformation. To plant our flag in the ground - right here, right now - and say "This is me!" seems to us to be settling for us, or giving up, or not being all that we can be." (page 22)

Title:  The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World's Most Elegant Woman
Author: Karen Karbo
Illustrated by: Chesley McLaren
Published by: skirt! An imprint of The Globe Pequot Press, 2009
Number of Pages: 229
Price: US$19.95, Canada $24.95 (hardcover)