Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Coco Chanel lived her own life as a romantic heroine.Fueled by 19th century literature, she built a life which was partly myth and partly factual.She was the fashion designer everyone admired. The business woman whose fortune was impossible to track. She was also a performer, lover of many high profile intellectuals and, as believed by many, a Nazi spy.Her life was, extraordinarily, affected by history (the Nazi movement and World War II), symbolism and literature.This biography explores her life from her troubled and poor past to the opening of her first hat shop, passions and secrets; the biography also draws parallelisms between myths and facts and how, and if ever, they match at all.The biography also features chapters on the Chanel Maison and the creation of her iconic trademark as well as her 'little black dress' and 'Chanel No 5'.Finally, the biography ends with a reflection on how the myth of Coco Chanel is represented today in pop culture.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgements (p. vi)
• Preface (p. vii)
• Chapter 1 Coco Chanel, the Romantic Heroine (p. 1)
• Chapter 2 Chanel, the Orphan (p. 4)
• Chapter 3 Coco Chanel (p. 17)
• Chapter 4 Coco, the Woman (p. 34)
• Chapter 5 Coco, the Designer (p. 51)
• Chapter 6 Coco, the Lover (p. 57)
• Chapter 7 Coco, the Spy (p. 75)
• Chapter 8 Coco, the Friend (p. 82)
• Interview: Coco and Gabriella Belli (p. 109)
• Interview: Coco and Jeffie Pike Durham (p. 113)
• Chapter 9 Coco, the Only One (p. 113)
• Chapter 10 Coco, the End (p. 127)
• Chapter 11 Coco, the Icon, the Rebel, the Myth (p. 139)
• Interview: Coco and David Lubin (p. 156)
• Bibliography (p. 164)