Mademoiselle
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191 production budget of $900,000: Much of the money had been sunk into Beaton’s extravagant sets. His rendering of Chanel’s studio, for example, consisted of a giant mechanical staircase—a glittering, mirrored spiral affair that rotated slowly, in the manner of a Busby Berkeley backdrop. Some nights it simply stopped functioning entirely, forcing Katharine Hepburn to improvise a chat with the audience.
Talking came easily to her but singing was another matter. John Simon described her singing style with his own neologism, “Schreckstimme,” a witty play on the opera term “Sprechstimme.” John Simon, “Theatre Chronicle,” Hudson Review, Spring 1970, 99.
192 “Her voice is like vinegar”: Barnes disliked the script but so enjoyed Hepburn’s strong and quirky stage presence that he had a suggestion: “Dear Miss Hepburn, perhaps they should have made a musical of your life [instead].” Clive Barnes, “Katharine Hepburn Has Title Role in ‘Coco,’ ” The New York Times, December 19, 1969.
193 “Coco was not very good”: Quoted in Gene Lees, The Musical Worlds of Lerner and Loewe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990), 269.
194 “Dazzling Mademoiselle”: André Previn and Alan Jay Lerner, Coco (1970 Original Broadway Cast), 1997, 1970 MCA Records D1168202. Many critics felt Lerner had stripped Chanel’s biography of all nuance and grandeur. “Coco” … does not have much story … and … is empty of plot,” wrote John Simon, 99. “ ‘Coco’ seems more like a rag-trade saga … that might have been titled, ‘I can get it for you custom-made,’ ” complained Marylin Bender in “The Challenge of Making Costumes Out of Chanel’s Clothes,” The New York Times, November 25, 1969.
195 “Mussolini’s New Man”: Mosse, 1996, 248–49.
196 which conjures the blond hair: For a more contemporary example of the lingering shadow of the fascist man in fashion, consider the brand universe created by the Bronx-born designer Ralph Lauren (né Lipschitz), in which athletic, mostly Aryan-looking models cavort through landscapes evoking American WASP privilege—country manors, tennis courts, or yachts off the coast of Maine.
197 despite its myriad weaknesses: As John Simon said, “Katharine Hepburn … alone sells tickets.” Simon, 99. Hepburn was replaced in August 1970 by French actress Danielle Darrieux, who could actually sing but lacked Hepburn’s star power and recognition in the States.
198 Beaton’s distortion of her work: Haedrich, 236.
199 without her full Coco regalia: Delay, 257–62. According to the Maison Chanel, Coco refused to attend the musical because of her displeasure with its depiction of her humble background and its focus on her later years.
200 her agility and reflexes: Fiemeyer and Palasse-Labrunie, 166, 169.
201 “I must be attached”: Delay, 257. Lisa Chaney mentions this episode of Chanel trying to seduce a Ritz employee, and attributes it to a “former Chanel model.” I heard the same anecdote from Brazilian journalist Danniel Rangel, citing specifically Vera Valdez, who is indeed a former Chanel model. Rangel, personal interview with author, March 2011.
202 Chanel told her niece Gabrielle: Fiemeyer and Palasse-Labrunie, 163.
203 Céline accepted the new name: Delay, 257. It had not been uncommon in pre-war France for wealthy employers to rename their servants according to their own whims.
204 a thoroughbred, Romantica: Galante, 152: Madsen, 317. See also “People,” Sports Illustrated, April 20, 1964, 47.
205 such as Isadora Duncan, Colette: Galante, 256; Delay, 280.
206 her shopping at particular antiques stores: Recounted by Robert Goossens, interview, April 7 and 11, 2006, Maison Chanel.
207 “François calms me”: Delay, 262.
208 Chanel accepted his return: Marquand, 129.
209 keep him that much closer: Haedrich, 222–24.
210 “Put me in the back of the car”: Madsen, 322.
211 and cracked three ribs: Ibid., 318.
212 Coco would catch herself: Chazot, Chazot Jacques, 87. Marquand, 157.
213 closest to the window: Delay, 264.
214 future of the Chanel empire: Madsen, 324; Haedrich, 222.
215 “I am more famous”: Haedrich, 233.
216 fully planning to resume work: Delay, 280.
217 one of Chanel’s rings: Marquand, 160.
218 “In fifteen years, I saw”: Marquand, personal conversation with author. Axel Madsen, 323, also describes Palasse-Labrunie’s relationship with Chanel as no more than “cordial.” Jacques Chazot says he saw Palasse-Labrunie once in the eight years he visited Chanel many times a week. Chazot, Chazot Jacques, 101.
219 making off with the stones: Goossens interview, conducted by the Maison Chanel April 7 and 11, 2006, 5.
220 the key to the box: Palasse-Labrunie, personal conversation with author.
221 jewelry designer in Saint-Tropez: “Valet’s £420,000 Claim on Chanel Will Before Court,” The Times (London), March 22, 1973; “Court Rejects Chanel Claim,” The Times (London), May 31, 1973.
222 Who did inherit Chanel’s: François Mironnet believed that Chanel had left a multibillion-dollar fortune, while the Wertheimers maintained it was a far lower amount. Madsen, 333.
223 its policy of sepulchral silence: Madsen, 333.
224 “It would take a greater voice”: “In Paris Church Chanel Rites Attended by Hundreds,” Los Angeles Times, January 14, 1971.
225 other graves during her lifetime: Fiemeyer and Palasse-Labrunie, 197.
AFTERWORD
1 “I believe in the fourth dimension”: Haedrich, 118.
2 highlighted the epic story: Diana Vreeland, “Mademoiselle’s Magic,” Herald Tribune, October 20, 1986.
3 hoping to conjure Mademoiselle: “Coco Is Missed,” The New York Times, January 27, 1971.
4 perpetuating the extant Chanel style: “New Boss at Chanel,” The New York Times, February 17, 1971.
5 symbol of stodgy matron-hood: Nicholas Coleridge, The Fashion Conspiracy: A Remarkable Journey Through the Empires of Fashion (New York: Harper and Row, 1988), 187.
6 limited number of upscale locations: Berman and Sawaya, 108.
7 harder memories of his youth: Alicia Drake has done an admirable job of researching Lagerfeld’s early years in The Beautiful Life: Fashion, Genius, and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris (New York: Little, Brown, 2006), esp. 332–37.
8 “Respect is not creation”: Quoted in Jane Kramer, “The Chanel Obsession,” Vogue, September 1, 1991, 512.
9 “antennae everywhere”: Marika Genty, personal conversation with author, May 2010.
10 discard every garment and sketch: Suzy Menkes, “The Man Who Takes Over from Chanel,” The New York Times, January 25, 1983.
11 size of a hula hoop: Sarah Karmali, “Chanel Hula Hoop Bag—Karl Lagerfeld Explains,” Vogue, October 4, 2012.
12 “I’m not a stripper!”: Quoted in Hadley Freeman, “The Man Behind the Glasses,” The Guardian, September 17, 2005.
13 international public relations for Chanel: Marie-Louise de Clermont-Tonnerre, personal conversation with author, March 2011.
14 Hadid’s undulating, sci-fi structure: Although this pavilion was intended to travel to more cities, a flagging global economy and a series of mocking press reviews convinced Chanel executives to end the Mobile Art campaign early. See Nicolai Ouroussoff, “Zaha Hadid’s Chanel Pavilion: Art and Commerce Canoodling in Central Park,” The New York Times, October 20, 2008.
15 “both invisible and present”: Vilmorin, 21.
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
fm1.1/9.4 akg-images/The Image Works
itr1.1 © 2014 ADAGP, Paris/Avec l’aimable autorisation de M. Pierre Bergé, président du Comité Jean Cocteau
1.1 Bildarchiv Monheim/akg-images/The Image Works
2.1 Courtesy of the Balsan family. All rights reserved.
3.1/10.9 (left) Roger-Viollet/The Image Works
3.2/3.8 Courtesy of Daniel Hainaut and Martine Alison, Société de l’Histoire de Fréjus
3.3/3.5/8.12 Condé Nast
; 3.6 David Arky Photography
3.7/6.3/12.2 Mary Evans Picture Library/Epic
4.1 Courtesy of Princess Anna Romanoff Ilyinsky
4.2/10.9 (right) Illustrations from L’Art et la Mode
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6.1 From Princess In Exile by Marie, Grand Duchess of Russia, copyright 1932 by Marie, Grand Duchess of Russia; renewed © 1960 by Count Lennart Bernadotte. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.
6.2 (top)/7.4 Photo by Sasha/Getty Images
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7.2/7.3/9.8 Boris Lipnitzki/Roger-Viollet/The Image Works
7.5 Illustrated London News/Mary Evans/The Image Works
8.4 Mary Evans Picture Library/Tallendier
8.5 Photo by Time Life Pictures/Pictures Inc./Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
8.6 Vogue/Condé Nast
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10.2 Photo by Jean Moral, courtesy of Brigitte Moral
10.3 Courtesy of the Archives de la préfecture de police de Paris
10.4 U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; courtesy of Richard Freimark and William O. McWorkman
10.5 U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; courtesy of Richard Freimark
10.6/11.8 The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection/The Wolfsonian-Florida International University
10.7/11.12 U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
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10.10 Victoria and Albert Museum, London
10.12 François Kollar/Galliera/Roger-Viollet/The Image Works
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11.9 U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; courtesy of Leon Tsevery
11.10 Courtesy of Dowager Lady Christiane Dreyfus Swaythling
11.11 Courtesy of the Sir Winston Churchill Archives Centre, The Churchill Papers, CHAR 20/198A/66/67
11.13 Courtesy of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum/U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
12.1 Bibliothèque des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France/Archives Charmet/The Bridgeman Art Library
12.3 TopFoto/The Image Works
12.4/12.5/12.6/12.7 Willy Rizzo Studio
12.8 Elle France
12.9 Photo by Friedman-Abeles © The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
12.10 Photo by Jean-Claude Deutsch/Paris Match via Getty Images
12.11 Courtesy of Emile Barret
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bm1.2 Photo by Robert Doisneau/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
BY RHONDA K. GARELICK
Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History
Electric Salome: Loie Fuller’s Performance of Modernism
Rising Star: Dandyism, Gender, and Performance in the Fin de Siècle
Fabulous Harlequin: ORLAN and the Patchwork Self (editor)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RHONDA K. GARELICK writes on fashion, performance, art, literature, and cultural politics. Her books include Rising Star: Dandyism, Gender, and Performance in the Fin de Siècle; Electric Salome: Loie Fuller’s Performance of Modernism; and, as coeditor, Fabulous Harlequin: ORLAN and the Patchwork Self. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, New York Newsday, the International Herald Tribune, and The Sydney Morning Herald, as well as in numerous journals and museum catalogs in the United States and Europe. She is a Guggenheim fellow and has also received awards from the Getty Research Institute, the Dedalus Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Association of University Women, and the Whiting Foundation. Garelick received her Ph.D. and B.A. in French and comparative literature from Yale University. She splits her time between New York City, where she is a visiting scholar at the CUNY Graduate Center, and Lincoln, Nebraska, where she is professor of performing arts and English and director of the Interdisciplinary Arts Symposium at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.