~French Inspired Dressing Table~
~Chanel~
~The Biography~
COCO CHANEL
~by Justine Picardie~
~The Film COCO before Chanel~
~I snapped this photo while in New York visiting Kara last year when the film first came out~
The inspiring life of COCO CHANEL is well documented in a new biography that my husband gave to me as a gift for my birthday back in December! It is just now that I've had time to read it and enjoy the inspiration of a beautiful woman who came from such a difficult early childhood. The pages of the book grabbed me instantly! A year ago, I enjoyed seeing the well received film with one of my daughters. I was actually in New York when the film first arrived in the theaters there and was amazed at the line and interest but of course NYC has its very own Chanel Salon so why not be there first! It surprised me as I began to read the book how much of her success came from a driven force to achieve and remold and remake herself into someone whose life, though extremely difficult, was meant to be!
Her life began as an abandoned child, along with her older sister, and her early years were spent in a convent orphanage where she lived and was educated by the nuns until she was eighteen. She spent a few holidays with distant relatives but always returned to the convent. She was an intensely private woman who wove her private life into symbols and coded language and built an empire known throughout the world for those of us who enjoy the luxury of fragrances and lipstick! Her legendary style of mixing fashion, marketing, and business is what I call......jaw dropping! In the beginning she found her greatest gift to be the simple one of sewing. She understood that as a seamstress she could make a living for herself. A simple skill that served her quiet well. She began to remake, yes remake, her own clothing and continued to draw from within her own soul the passionate drive to achieve greatness and she did throughout her life. She always sought love. In reading about her life, I hope that she did find love, but only she could answer that question. What we do know is that her beautiful products make us feel more lovely and with that it gives me a delight to know that her love of creating continues to bring others pleasure. Throughout her life she was called Mademoiselle when one would enter The House of Chanel and see her, if she happened to be there, which stands, even today, at 31 Rue Cambon in Paris. Pearls, tweed jackets, the little black dress, camellias and the interlocked double-C logo all are symbols of her success. She based her designs on what suited her......or better yet what inspired her. It a beautifully scripted book. I consider it a resource book for my personal library.
Our lives are being written too. Perhaps not with the mysterious charm of Coco Chanel but still our lives are impacting those around us. The Psalmist writes in Psalm 139: 15-17, "My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God. How great is the sum of them!" It is important for us to be wise in how we live our lives. Choices that we make today impact all our tomorrows......yes, today you are writing your own story~make it count! Your life could be a legend! Every opportunity is yours! Better yet in someones life I hope they will say one day......Vous etes un ange de Dieu!
(You are an angel from God!)
