by Lisa Chaney
15 Letter from Arthur Capel to Diana Wyndham: “I hate the main road & the crowd. The world I know is of my own making, the other makes me sick. Their morals, their convictions, their ambitions mean nothing to me. Fancy, sympathy & illusion have ever been my bed mates & I would never change them for Consideration, Position or Power.” Capel correspondence, courtesy of Christopher Osborn. This letter is undated, as are all those from Arthur.
16 Valerie Steele, Paris Fashion, pp. 71–72. I based my argument here on Ms. Steele’s description of the grisettes in this thought-provoking book.
17 Ibid., p. 71.
18 Ibid.
19 Charles Roux, Chanel, p. 113.
20 Elisabeth de Clermont-Tonnerre née de Gramont, Mémoires, vol. IV, La treizième heure, p. 154.
CHAPTER 8 : Refashioning Paris
1 Vanessa Schwartz, Spectacular Realities, p. 229. Ms. Schwartz informed my descriptions of the development of mass culture in Paris.
2 Colin Jones, Paris: Biography of a City, p. 410. I am indebted, for this section, to this excellent work on Paris.
3 Ibid., p. 365.
4 Ibid., p. 386.
5 Schwartz, p. 92.
6 Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, p. 37.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Arthur Capel, What Will Tomorrow Be Made Of?, p. 77.
CHAPTER 9: The Rite of Spring
1 Revue de Paris, t. 6, pp. 279, 276. Blanche, regarded by some as ingratiating, was sharp tongued, a fine portraitist, and also made it his business to know everyone.
2 Modris Eksteins, Rites of Spring, p. 31.
3 Ibid., p. 72.
4 Ibid., p. 73.
5 Sjeng Scheijen, Diaghilev, p. 454.
6 Jane Pritchard, Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, “Diaghilev the Man,” p. 41.
7 Eksteins, p. 39.
8 Mary Davis, Classic Chic, p. 26. Mary Davis’s seminal work was most helpful in the section on Poiret and the relationship between fashion and developing modernism.
9 Ibid.
10 Valerie Steele, Paris Fashion, p. 230.
11 Femina, September 1, 1913.
12 Francis Steegmuller, Cocteau, p. 89.
13 Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, p. 37.
CHAPTER 10 : The End of an Epoque
1 Paul Morand, Lewis et Irène, p. 124.
2 Ibid.
3 Arthur Capel, What Will Tomorrow Be Made Of?, p. 18.
4 George de Symons Barrow, The Fire of Life, p. 149.
5 Ibid., p. 151.
6 Elisabeth de Clermont-Tonnerre, Mémoires, vol. III : Clair de lune et taxi-auto, p. 36.
7 Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, p. 43.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid., pp. 43, 45.
10 Clermont-Tonnerre, Mémoires, vol. III, p. 79.
11 Ernest de la Grange, Open House in Flanders, December 29, 1914, p. 77.
CHAPTER 11 : Master of Her Art
1 Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, p. 46.
2 All references in this section ibid., p. 52.
3 Ibid., p. 45.
4 Pierre Galante, Mademoiselle Chanel, p. 37.
5 Amy de la Haye, Chanel: The Couturière at Work, p. 20.
6 Baronne de la Grange, Open House in Flanders, August 8, 1915, p. 143.
7 Morand, Allure, p. 39.
8 Galante, p. 38.
9 Ibid., p. 37.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid., p. 39.
12 Ibid.
13 Morand, Allure, p. 42.
CHAPTER 12: The War Bans the Bizarre
1 Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, p. 38.
2 Letter from “the General Officer, Commander in Chief, the British Army in France” to “the Secretary, War Office, London,” March 20, 1916, National Archives, Kew.
3 C. E. Callwell, Sir Henry Wilson: His Life and Diaries, vol. I, p. 205.
4 Morand, Allure, p. 42.
5 Max Egremont, Under Two Flags, p. 27. This admirable biography was instructive in my understanding of what Arthur Capel’s work as a liaison officer would have been like. Spears’s comments on Arthur (from Spears’s diaries in Colonel Anthony Aylmer’s collection) were another vital step in discovering Arthur’s life.
6 Cahiers André Gide, vol. VIII, p. 214, J. E. Blanche to André Gide, February 15, 1917.
7 Charles Roux, Chanel, p. 162, and John Pomian, J. Retinger: Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, p. 35.
8 Francis Steegmuller, Cocteau, p. 184.
9 Sjeng Scheijen, Diaghilev, p. 323.
10 Mary Davis, Classic Chic, p. 117.
11 Scheijen, p. 331.
12 Davis, p. 117.
13 Ibid., pp. 128–29.
CHAPTER 13: Remember That You’re a Woman
1 Charles Roux, Chanel, p. 164.
2 Robert Fizdale and Arthur Gold, The Life of Misia Sert, p. 198.
3 Ibid., p. 196.
4 Ibid., p. 202.
5 Ibid., p. 197.
6 Paul Morand, Lewis et Irène, p. 144.
7 Ibid., p. 135.
8 Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, p. 143.
9 Morand, Lewis et Irène, p. 142.
10 Sir Jeremy Hutchinson in interview with author, September 2008.
11 Christopher Osborn in interview with author, September 2008.
12 Arthur Capel’s correspondence, Christopher Osborn. These letters proved invaluable in “reading” Arthur and the relationships with Diana and Gabrielle.
13 Ibid.
14 Christopher Osborn, in interview with author, June 2009.
15 Arthur Capel correspondence, Christopher Osborn.
16 Ibid.
17 Max Egremont, Under Two Flags, p. 66.
18 Michelle Maurois, Déchirez cette lettre, p. 125.
19 Edward Stanley, Paris 1918: The War Diary of the British Ambassador, May 29, 1918, p. 25.
20 Georges Bernstein-Gruber, Bernstein le magnifique, p. 165.
21 Arthur Capel, What Will Tomorrow Be Made Of?, p. 79.
22 Ibid., pp. 79–80.
23 Ibid., p. 80.
24 Maurois, p. 160.
25 Morand, Allure, p. 43.
CHAPTER 14 : Alone
1 Paul Morand, Lewis et Irène, p. 140.
2 Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, p. 37.
3 Capel correspondence, Christopher Osborn.
4 The Papers of Alfred Duff Cooper (1st Viscount Norwich), DUFC 12/8, July 5, 1918, Churchill Archives Center, Cambridge.
5 Ibid.
6 Scotland’s People website, www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk.
7 Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby, Paris 1918: The War Diary of the British Ambassador, August 11, 1918, pp. 133–34.
8 Georges Bernstein-Gruber, Bernstein le magnifique, p. 166.
9 Benquet Agency letters.
10 Earl of Derby, p. 161, August 22, 1918.
11 Michelle Maurois, Déchirez cette lettre, p. 15.
12 Ibid., p. 160.
13 Liane de Pougy, My Blue Notebooks, p. 54.
14 Lady d’Abernon, Red Cross and Berlin Embassy, 1915–1926: Extracts from the Diaries of Viscountess d’Abernon, November 28, 1918, p. 56. My thanks here to Lady Polly Feversham.
15 Christopher Osborn in interview with author.
16 Ibid.
17 Viscount Norwich, Duff Cooper Diaries, April 9, 1918, October 29, 1918, and November 5, 1918. The notion that Duff Cooper and Diana Capel had an affair (Justine Picardie, Coco Chanel, p. 88) is based on a misreading of these diaries.
18 Ibid., November 11, 1919.
19 Phillip Norcross Gross, Oscar Edward Fleming’s nephew, has been helpful with new information on Antoinette Fleming née Chanel.
20 Norwich, December 23, 1919. These diary entries proved crucial in the last piece of the Arthur Capel/Diana Capel/Chanel puzzle.
21 Axel Madsen, Chanel: A Woman of Her Own, p. 99.
22 Norwich, January 21, 1920.
23 Charles Roux, Chanel, p. 178.
24 Stonyhurst Magazine and Le
Gaulois, January 2, 1920.
25 Capel correspondence, Christopher Osborn.
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid.
28 Morand, Allure, pp. 54–55.
CHAPTER 15: Beginning Again
1 Colin Simpson, Artful Partners, pp. 168–78.
2 Elisabeth de Clermont-Tonnerre, Mémoires, vol. IV, La Treizième Heure, p. 154.
3 Charles Roux, Chanel, p. 183, and Axel Madsen, Chanel: A Woman of Her Own, p. 106.
4 Services Archives-Documentation, Mairie de Garches.
5 Churchill Archives Center DUFC12/8, 17.
6 Paul Morand, Venices, p. 121.
7 Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, p. 59.
8 Marcel Haedrich, Coco Chanel, p. 112.
9 Ibid.
10 Charles Roux, p. 196.
11 Morand, Allure, p. 62.
12 Ibid., p. 60.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid., p. 63.
15 Audio recording, Gabrielle Chanel, Bibliothèque Nationale de France (undated).
16 Richard Buckle, Diaghilev, p. 161.
17 Morand, Allure, p. 84.
18 John Richardson, A Life of Picasso, vol. III, p. 39.
19 Buckle, p. 364.
20 Mary Davis, Classic Chic, p. 226.
21 Richardson, vol. III, p. 174.
CHAPTER 16 : The Strangest and Most Brilliant Years
1 Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, p. 107.
2 Mary Davis, Classic Chic, p. 179.
3 Morand, Allure, p. 127.
4 Chanel interview BNF.
5 Richard Buckle, Diaghilev, p. 412.
6 Davis, pp . 183–85.
7 Ibid., p. 179.
8 Chanel interview BNF.
9 John Richardson, A Life of Picasso, vol. III, p. 177.
10 Gaia Servadio, Luchino Visconti: A Biography, p. 41.
11 Morand, Allure, p. 128.
12 Ibid., pp. 30–31.
13 Ibid., p. 31.
14 Morand, Lettres du voyageur, letter to Valentine Hugo, January 2, 1921.
15 Morand, Allure, p. 128.
16 Ibid., p. 81.
17 Chanel interview BNF.
18 Arthur Rubinstein, My Many Years, p. 151.
CHAPTER 17: Dmitri Pavlovich
1 Pavlovich diaries, February 9, 1921. For guiding my thoughts on Dmitri Pavlovich, and painstaking translations of all of the following diary entries, I am most grateful to William Lee. www.directarticle.org/Will_Lee_Sue_Woolmans.html.
2 Marie Pavlovna, A Princess in Exile, p. 71.
3 Ibid., p. 130.
4 Ibid.
5 Amanda Mackenzie Stuart, Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt, p. 158.
6 Pavlovich, February 9, 1921.
7 Ibid., February 10, 1921.
8 Ibid.
9 Robert Fizdale and Arthur Gold, The Life of Misia Sert, p. 132.
10 In conversation with William Lee.
11 Pavlovich, March 18, 1921.
12 Ibid., May 2, 1921.
13 Marcel Haedrich, Coco Chanel, p. 26.
14 I am grateful to Philip Norcross Gross for this information.
15 Charles Roux, Chanel, p. 176.
16 Haedrich, p. 26.
17 Pavlovich, May 4, 1921.
18 Ibid., May 5, 1921.
CHAPTER 18 : The Lucky N° 5
1 Vogue, October 1920.
2 Robert Fizdale and Arthur Gold, The Life of Misia Sert, p. 201.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Pierre Galante, Mademoiselle Chanel, p. 67.
6 Ibid., p. 69.
7 Ernest Beaux “Souvenir de parfums,” in Industrie de la parfumerie, vol. I, no. 7, October 1946.
8 Galante, p. 74.
9 Audio recording, Gabrielle Chanel, Bibliothèque Nationale de France (undated).
10 Patrick Doucet painstakingly described the development of Chanel perfumes and helped me toward a chronology of N° 5.
11 Chanel catalogue, Chanel Conservatoire.
12 Galante, p. 75.
13 Ibid.
14 Audio recording, Gabrielle Chanel, Bibliothèque Nationale de France (undated).
CHAPTER 19 : Entirely in White and Covered in Pearls
1 All references in this paragraph are from Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, p. 104.
2 Francis Steegmuller, Cocteau, p. 268.
3 Jean Cocteau, Le passé défini, February 6, 1956, p. 42.
4 John Richardson, A Life of Picasso, vol. III, p. 87.
5 Marcel Haedrich, Coco Chanel, p. 105.
6 Marie Pavlovna, A Princess in Exile, p. 174.
7 Axel Madsen, Chanel: A Woman of Her Own, p. 118.
8 Harper’s Bazaar, March 1937.
9 Madsen, p. 118.
10 All preceding quotes in this section are from Marie Pavlovna.
11 Gaia Servadio, Luchino Visconti: A Biography, p. 31.
12 Steegmuller, p. 170.
13 Ibid., pp. 241–42.
14 Ibid., p. 301.
15 Ibid., p. 308.
16 Ibid., p. 276.
17 Ibid., p. 297.
18 Chanel to Etienne de Beaumont in the Institut Mémoire de l’édition Contemporaine, fonds E. Beaumont.
19 Chanel correspondence, Chanel Conservatoire.
20 Chanel archive.
CHAPTER 20 : Reverdy
1 Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, p. 133.
2 Charles Roux, Chanel, p. 370.
3 Marcel Haedrich, Coco Chanel, p. 138.
4 Jean Cocteau, Le passé défini, vol. 5, April 1956, p. 91.
5 Collection Chanel, by kind permission of the estate of Pierre Reverdy.
6 Francis Steegmuller, Cocteau, p. 325.
7 Roux, p. 230.
CHAPTER 21 : At the Center
1 Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, p. 148.
2 Ibid., p. 118.
3 Ibid., p. 146.
4 Ibid., p. 147.
5 Ibid., pp. 145–48.
6 Carmel Snow, The World of Carmel Snow, p. 31.
7 Morand, Allure, pp. 122, 151.
8 Ibid., p. 123.
9 Whitney Chadwick and Tirza True Latimer, The Modern Woman Revisited, p. 89.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid., p. 82.
12 Ibid., pp. 80–85.
13 Ibid.
14 Vogue, March 1, 1923.
15 Morand, Allure, p. 47.
16 Ibid., p. 155.
17 Ibid., p. 131.
18 Ibid., p. 133.
19 Arthur Rubinstein, My Many Years, p. 125.
20 Renée Mourgues, La République, October 13, 1994.
21 Pierre Galante, Mademoiselle Chanel, p. 155.
22 Maurice Sachs, La Décade de l’illusion, p. 138.
CHAPTER 22 : Bend’Or
1 Jean Cocteau, Lettres à sa mère, vol. V, May 24, 1957.
2 Marcel Haedrich, Coco Chanel, p. 125.
3 George Ridley, Bend d’Or, Duke of Westminster, p. 141
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid., p. 134.
6 Winston and Clementine Churchill, Speaking for Themselves, p. 313.
7 Ibid., p. 306.
8 Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, pp. 158–59.
9 Ibid., p. 160.
10 Ibid., p. 165.
11 Ibid.
12 The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection catalogue, Dallas Museum of Art.
13 Bettina Ballard, In My Fashion, p. 49.
14 Morand, Allure, p. 169.
15 Ibid., p. 69.
16 Robert Fizdale and Arthur Gold, The Life of Misia Sert, p. 271.
17 Marcel Billot, Journal de l’Abbé Mugnier, August 6, 1928.
18 Axel Madsen: Chanel: A Woman of Her Own, p. 172.
19 Vogue, August 1930.
20 Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, Grace and Favor, p. 159.
21 Dorothy Ponsonby, diaries, February 20, 1930.
22 Morand, Allure, p. 162.
23 Ibid., pp. 165–67.
24 Ridley, p. 167.
25 Morand, Allure, p. 167.
; CHAPTER 23: The Crash
1 Francis C. Rose, Saying Life: The Memoirs of Sir Francis Rose, p. 154.
2 Axel Madsen, Chanel: A Woman of Her Own, p. 186.
3 Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, p. 151.
4 Charles Roux, Chanel, p. 237.
5 Morand, Allure, pp. 149–50.
6 Judith Thurman, Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette, p. 377.
7 Charles Roux, p. 291.
8 Morand, Chroniques, 1931–1954, p. 314.
9 Gaia Servadio, Luchino Visconti: A Biography, p. 40.
10 Ibid., p. 42.
11 Madsen, p. 210.
12 Ibid.
13 Servadio, p. 52.
14 Lilou Marquand, Chanel m’a dit, p. 108.
15 Ibid., p. 137.
16 Morand, Allure, p. 112.
17 Ibid., p. 111.
CHAPTER 24 : Schiap Had Lots of It but It Was Bad
1 Bettina Ballard, In My Fashion, p. 61.
2 Ibid., p. 62.
3 Ibid., p. 140.
4 Dalí letters to Gabrielle Chanel, Dalí correspondence, courtesy Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí.
5 Paul Morand, The Allure of Chanel, p. 170.
6 Ibid., p. 172.
7 I am most grateful to Jean-Noël Liaut for this and much other useful information.
8 Marcel Billot, Journal de l’Abbé Mugnier, February 22, 1929.
9 Jean Hugo, Carnets, February 17, 1967.
CHAPTER 25 : War
1 Janet Flanner, Paris Was Yesterday, p. 222.
2 Pierre Galante, Mademoiselle Chanel, p. 170.
3 Axel Madsen, Chanel: A Woman of Her Own, p. 226.
4 Charles Roux, Chanel, p. 373.
5 Flanner, p. 222.
6 Dalí letters to Gabrielle Chanel, Dalí correspondence, courtesy Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí.
7 Madame Gabrielle Labrunie interview with the author.
8 Nicole Fenosa and Bertrand Tillier, Apel-les Fenosa: Catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre sculpté.
9 Lilou Marquand interview with the author.
10 William Bullitt, pp. 481–86.
11 Marcel Haedrich, Coco Chanel, p. 143.