Chanel: An intimate life

A provocative and revealing account of Chanel that explores her dalliances with bisexuality, drugs and an affair with a Nazi spy. Coco Chanel was many things to many people. Raised in emotional and financial poverty, she became one of the defining figures of the twentieth century. She was mistress to aristocrats, artists and spies. She broke rules of style and decorum, seducing both men and women, yet in her work expected the highest standards. She took a 'plaything' and turned it into a global industry which defined the modern woman. Filled with new insights and thrilling discoveries, Lisa Chaney's Chanel provides the most defining and provocative portrait yet. 'An unflinching examination of the historically inscrutable designer.' Vogue 'Chaney is adept at elucidating Chanel's paradoxical character. A nuanced account of a contradictory, complex, quite extraordinary life.' The Times Higher Education Supplement 'Chaney ably explores the complexities and inner life of her subjec.t' The Times Literary Supplement