Coco Chanel: Pearls, Perfume, and the Little Black Dress, by Susan Goldman Rubin
Award-winning
author Susan Goldman Rubin introduces readers to the most well-known
fashion designer in the world, Coco Chanel.
Beginning
with the difficult years Chanel spent in an orphanage, Goldman Rubin traces
Coco’s development as a designer and demonstrates how her determination to be
independent helped her gain worldwide recognition. Coco Chanel focuses
on the obstacles Chanel faced as a financially independent woman in an era when
women were expected to marry; as well as her fierce competition with the
Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli; and some of her most memorable
firsts for the fashion industry, including the little black dress, the quilted
purse with gold chain, and the perfume Chanel No. 5.
" "Well-designed
biography of a fascinating woman."
(School
Library Connection)
"A well-researched primer packed with details on a
significant trailblazer. Give to readers interested in fashion, business, and
history."
(School
Library Journal)
"Rubin offers an honest account of Chanel’s success as
a profoundly influential couturier."
(The
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books)
"Rubin’s biography is clear-sighted about Chanel’s
faults while extolling her fashion genius. Her source notes and
bibliography are meticulous, as is the book’s design . . . This will
attract young fashion mavens eager to learn about design history."
(Booklist)