How Georgia Became O'Keeffe: Lessons on the Art of Living

 

There are many, many books on the life and work of Georgia O'Keeffe - so many in fact that there are multiple pages of listings on Amazon.... Her visionary brilliance as an artist, her fierce independence as a woman, and her turbulent relationship with Alfred Steiglitz give her a mysterious aura that fascinates us all. It is almost a wonder that there is anything left to write about her. And yet, this did not faze Karen Karbo when she decided to put her own spin on the life of this artistic legend. 

Karen Karbo is the author of The Gospel According to Coco Chanel and How to Hepburn. She has a unique gift for biography, crafting a narrative that both delights and amuses the reader, as well as mining that person's life for nuggets of inspiration and life lessons. (Read my January 2010 interview with her here). When Karen wrote to me about her new book, I knew that I had to put down my scholarly journals and get this book, especially since Georgia O'Keeffe's flowers were a huge source of inspiration in my earliest painting attempts. Not yet available in Canada, I ordered How Georgia Became O'Keeffe: Lessons on the Art of Living on Amazon and it has been my company in the wee hours of the morning during my latest bout of insomnia. 

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.

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)