Perspective

Chanel's life story is told from the perspective of Edmonde Charles-Roux, a student of both her life and the industry. It is evident on every page that Charles-Roux viewed Chanel in the same way that the industry viewed her from the 1930s to the end of her career. Charles-Roux tells of Chanel's beginnings with compassion and gives credit to her at every turn for her innovation and singularity of style. Charles-Roux is also careful in setting up the historical context in which Chanel's life took shape, drawing attention to parallel lives taking place in the same time. Each life Charles-Roux describes intersects with Chanel's in some small way, but each one serves to clarify significantly the fashion of the time, the influences in culture that made a change in fashion make sense, and the ways the connections she made shaped her career.

Charles-Roux also communicates a clear understanding...