• fax: 1-866-743-3439
  • toll-free: 1-877-366-7327

Blog by Don Kennedy

<< back to article list

Coco Avant Chanel

Coco Avant Chanel. Yes we’re talking THAT Chanel, a name synonymous with luxurious chic in the world of high fashion. Gabrielle Chanel the company founder worked right up to her death in 1971 but her high end company was born of humble beginning. She was nicknamed “Coco” by her father who just before the turn of the century abandoned her to a French orphanage. Much later as a young woman she eked out a living as a seamstress by day and a chanteuse in a low rent saloon at night. This movie shies away from historic accusations of Nazi collaboration concentrating instead on her earlier life as it asserts that Chanel was the catalyst for the elision of fashion from the chaste and excessive Victorian dowdiness to comfortable sleek modern lines. Its real focus though is on the love triangle between Coco and two aristocrats, Étienne Balsan (Benoît Poelvoorde) who falls in love with her too late and Arthur 'Boy' Capel (Alessandro Nivola) who incites passion in her yet she could be nothing more than a mistress to either. The always captivating Audrey Tautou is again superb as Coco Chanel whose stubborn courage and ingenuity turned a hat shop into a fashion icon. Hats off to both ladies.

Archives