THE FABULOUS COCO CHANEL

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33442, 25 January 1974, Page 13

THE FABULOUS COCO CHANEL

Chanel Solitaire. By Claude Batllen. Collins. 192 pp. What bock could do justice to the fabuloua C6co Chanel? In this individualistic, sensitive biography by Madame Claude Baillen translated by Barbara Bray, we have the answer. It contrives to bring us as close to the r usive genius as would be decent. For the title suggests the essential woman. It suggests defiance, independence,

courage. boldness, uniqueness creativity and loneliness, a woman hiding away from others, yet in desperate need of love. Madame Baillen’s style is like that of a butterfly in flight, dancing from one thought to another, touching lightly for a second and rarely settling. Nothing unnecessary is said. It is assumed that the reader is sufficiently intelligent to fill in the gaps. And the assumption is

refreshing, as well as flattering Another feature of the book is the selection of photographs. Many have not been published until now-. They capture Chanel’s astonishing beauty, from the gentle pertness of her youth, the increasing flair of her womanhood, the smile which seemed to grow more huge with each year, to her old age. of which she said, “elegance and fastidiousness are a form of dignity.” At seventy, she is shown as an undeniably ’ beautiful woman with a confident posture. Photographs show her pensive, enigmatic, gentle, angry, relaxed and gay in turn. They make it easy to understand how she attracted a succession of wealthy lovers, from Boy Capel to the Duke of Westminster and the Prince of Wales. Coco Chanel’s childhood was marked by a lack of love. Her widowed father went to live in America, leaving her in the care of maiden aunts who were unsatisfactory substitutes for loving parents. She was too proud, or too hurt, to respond to the affection of the maids and servants, who were warm towards her. As an adolescent she ran away to live with the influential Etienne Balsan, although she was not his mistress. She thrived on riding his horses bareback all day long, but still yearned to be loved; she was threatened by her aunts with reform school. Then she fell suddenly in love with the fabulous Englishman, Boy Capel, and told him she had packed her bag ready to run off with him to Paris. So she entered the world of Paris society, and discovered fashion. Her contribution to fashion is, of course, monumental, The wild young bare-back rider swore that clothes should be comfortable, should allow full .and free movement. Not for her, ever, tight corsets and constriction. But her femaleness insisted too that women should be women. Slacks she approved of for the country or the sea. But she dressed her women in skirts. Luxury and austerity were natural partners for her; she herself possessed, as a rule, only two or three suits at a time. She could hardly bear to put on a new suit, which felt stiff and unnatural despite her emphasis on comfort. But everything about those few garments must be perfect. Throughout the book we have the sense of. immense vitality and determination. Chanel’s loathing of phoneyness meant, inevitably, that she sounded often cruel. Cocteau said; she looks at you fondly, then slaughters you. . . Only people she knew were welcome. Ornament was not for her. All that interested her was the pistol shot of truth. Of Jacqueline Onassis: out for dignity. You musn’t ask a woman with a touch of vulgarity to spend the rest of her life over a corpse.” Of Jean Harlow: “Always wiggling her ass, looking for millionaires.” Her friends had to be able to detect in a torrent of abuse, an invitation to touch. The pace and the tone of the book both intensify towards the end of the story of Chanel’s life, and the reader's involvement is ensured. Chanel’s enemies were boredom, vulgarity, and loneliness. But hers should be the last word on the subject: “I'm Mademoiselle Chanel, a private person, and that’s how I intend to remain.”