" J'ai rendu au corps des femmes sa liberté, dira Gabrielle. Ce corps suait dans des habits de parade, sous les dentelles, les corsets, les dessous, le rembourrage. " Ainsi, lorsque Chanel détruit une mode et crée une silhouette toute neuve, on entre dans un autre siècle, celui de la Belle Epoque. Il y a une certaine confusion des sexes dans la forme d'élégance qu'elle préconise, mais la coupe à la garçonne, les robes tubulaires, le N°5, c'est son style à elle, inimitable. Une quête incessante de la rigueur, du raffinement et du dépouillement. Janséniste de la couture, elle n'en est pas moins l'égérie des années folles et séduit l'intelligentsia de son temps, de Diaghilev à Cocteau, lequel ne tarit pas d'éloges sur ses lubies, ses colères, ses outrances et sa générosité. " Coco est un personnage unique, attachant, attirant, repoussant, excessif... humain enfin. "

与同时代的其他设计师相比，嘉伯丽尔·香奈儿更具有天才眼光，她能够准确洞察既符合流行时尚又能历经时间考验的事物。她具有真正的开拓精神，总是走在最前沿，清楚自己的好恶，这些因素结合在一起改变了20世纪的面貌。

Coco Chanel's genius for fashion may have been distilled in simplicity, but her life was an extravaganza. A brilliant array of luminaries fell under her spell - Picasso, Churchill, Cocteau; lovers included the Grand Duke Dmitri; the English roue, Boy Capel; a French poet; and, a German spy and the Duke of Westminster, who offered to leave his wife for her permanently, if she would only bear him an heir. Paradoxically, though she might have been regarded in some lights as a pioneering feminist - sacrificing marriage to a revolutionary career in couture - Chanel was utterly baffled by the idea of women's politics. Educated women? 'A woman's education consists of two lessons: never leave the house without stockings, never go out without a hat'. Chanel's rise from penniless orphan to millionaire designer - 'inventing' sportswear, the little black dress and number 5 - makes compelling reading, not least because she was inclined to design her own life as deftly as she did her fashions. Axel Madsen negotiates Chanel's smoke screens with skill, bringing this tantalizing woman to life in all her alluring complexity.

時尚易逝，風格永存。 她用黑與白改變了女人，也改變了世界－－ 她是可可‧香奈兒 想了解她的時尚生命？ 第一本香奈兒親自口述，充滿力道的內心自剖 認識香奈兒的唯一經典！ 以第一人稱方式書寫，猶如香奈兒在你面前呢喃道來犀利的語氣、傲然的態度，從本書窺見香奈兒，總算看了一個明白從此，看見Chanel 你懂得的，將不再只是一個雙環相扣的昂貴品牌。 二十世紀的法國，留給世界三個名字：戴高樂、畢卡索、香奈兒。 香奈兒憑著絕對的自信、敏銳的美感，強韌的個性和對極致的追求，創造出改變世界的時尚王國，開啟二十世紀的時尚風潮。 她對女裝風格的影響力，讓《時代雜誌》將她選為二十世紀影響最巨的百人之一。 一九二一年，在香奈兒康朋街三十一號樓上居所的耶誕餐會上，保羅‧莫朗結識了香奈兒，這位充滿傳奇故事的女人；當晚在共同友人的引介下，兩人成為好友，開始長達半世紀的友誼。二十五年後的某個冬天，兩人意外地在度假勝地聖莫里茲（St. Mortiz）的旅館重逢，兩人便在旅館徹夜促膝長談。保羅在旅館的便籤紙上，隨筆記下了談話的內容，然而這份手稿之後卻被擱置了近三十年。直到多年後，保羅因搬家之故找到了這份早已泛黃的手稿。於是，他回憶三十年前的那個冬夜，著手整理這份當年匆匆記下的筆記，以紀念他的好友。 一九七六年，就在香奈兒過世五年後，本書正式於法國出版。書一出版，法國媒體即讚譽本書為「一場閱讀的盛宴，一顆精緻奪目的寶石」。保羅在書中重現香奈兒獨特的神韻、以機智嘲諷的語句、優美如珠玉的文字，回顧香奈兒生命裡每個過程－－她的孤獨、她的事業、她的愛情、她的人生，再現了這位傳奇女子神祕、迷人、難以捉摸的形象，以及這個形象背後對工作追求完美與極致的強韌個性。 然而透過書中文字，我們看到的不單是香奈兒的傳奇，更有她身邊的友人－－畢卡索、史特拉汶斯基、狄亞吉列夫……等藝術家的形象鮮明再現，感受到當時興盛的歐洲文化氛圍。

Justine Picardie has spent the last decade puzzling over the truth about Coco Chanel, attempting to peel away the accretions of romance and lies. In this full-scale biography we finally discover the history of the incredible woman who created the way we look now. Coco Chanel was an extraordinary inventor - she conjured up the little black dress, bobbed hair, trousers for women, contemporary chic, best-selling perfumes, and the most successful fashion brand of all time - but she also invented herself, fashioning the myth of her own life with the same dexterity as her couture. While Chanel was supreme innovator and vendor of all things elegant and beautiful, what lies beneath her own glossy myth is far darker. Throwing new light on her passionate and turbulent relationships, this beautifully constructed portrait gives a fresh and penetrating look at how Coco Chanel made herself into her own most powerful creation. Justine Picardie brings the mysterious Gabrielle Chanel out of hiding, to celebrate her great achievements. She examines Chanel's enduring afterlife, as well as her remarkable life, uncovering the consequences of what she covered up, unpicking the seams between truth and legend, yet keeping intact the real fabric of her past.