At one time on this planet, there was a golden age of glamor. Today, we have none of it left. I've been reading a lot about those days and it always amazes me how there is always a common connection somehow. Such is with another one from that great generation of glamor. Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel.
I was stunned at her humanity. A couple of sources seem to verify her generous moods. In Coco & Igor, Chris Greenhalgh and Karen Karbo in The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World's Most Elegant Woman, the stories of her are amazing and yet, being human during a time of war almost cost her everything.
Igor Stravinsky, with his family, stayed with Coco. He was in the early stages of his "The Rite of
Spring". It was Coco, who guaranteed financially the success of his production. Later, she took care of yet another family and payed for the husband's funeral following his death. It just so happened that he was the head of the German SS which almost cost her everything. Coco, had had an earlier affair with the German.
Coco was once ask why she did not marry the Duke of Westminster. She had also had an affair with him. Her reply came, " There have been several Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Chanel." This original account was first published in her Biography.
When she left Paris, she moved to Switzerland and remained there for years. She had designed and built her villa, La Pausa, on the French Riviera. It looks toward the Italian and French border on one side and overlooks Monaco on the other. It sits high above the village of Roquebrune. It was built in the 1930s during that golden era and of her own design.
In 1953 Coco sold her villa, La Pausa, to the Hungarian publisher and translator Emery Reves. He purchased the villa from Coco with his translations royalties of foreign languages for Winston Churchill's
books. Churchill lived there four months of each of the years 1956,1957 and 1958 while he worked on his book. After Emery's death, his wife Wendy continued to live there until her death, but in the early days after her husband's death, the Dallas Museum of Art approached Wendy about the master collection of fine art that was displayed in the house from both Coco Chanel and from the Reves. Fearing that she would sell the collection as a whole, the museum agreed to terms set down by Wendy. She wanted five (5) rooms replicated from La Pausa and to include pieces of furniture belonging to Chanel. The museum built a 16,000 square foot addition to house Wendy's collection. Today, the Emery and Wendy Reves collection can be visited at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Chanel No. 5 has always had class. It was the woman who developed the concept as a fashion designer that lifted Chanel No. 5 to the top shelf. Coco Chanel is buried in Switzerland following her death in Paris. She had lived in Switzerland for 30 years after leaving Paris the first time.
I was stunned at her humanity. A couple of sources seem to verify her generous moods. In Coco & Igor, Chris Greenhalgh and Karen Karbo in The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World's Most Elegant Woman, the stories of her are amazing and yet, being human during a time of war almost cost her everything.
Igor Stravinsky, with his family, stayed with Coco. He was in the early stages of his "The Rite of
Spring". It was Coco, who guaranteed financially the success of his production. Later, she took care of yet another family and payed for the husband's funeral following his death. It just so happened that he was the head of the German SS which almost cost her everything. Coco, had had an earlier affair with the German.
Coco was once ask why she did not marry the Duke of Westminster. She had also had an affair with him. Her reply came, " There have been several Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Chanel." This original account was first published in her Biography.
When she left Paris, she moved to Switzerland and remained there for years. She had designed and built her villa, La Pausa, on the French Riviera. It looks toward the Italian and French border on one side and overlooks Monaco on the other. It sits high above the village of Roquebrune. It was built in the 1930s during that golden era and of her own design.
In 1953 Coco sold her villa, La Pausa, to the Hungarian publisher and translator Emery Reves. He purchased the villa from Coco with his translations royalties of foreign languages for Winston Churchill's
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| Not the French Riviera but still a pretty awesome place. |
Chanel No. 5 has always had class. It was the woman who developed the concept as a fashion designer that lifted Chanel No. 5 to the top shelf. Coco Chanel is buried in Switzerland following her death in Paris. She had lived in Switzerland for 30 years after leaving Paris the first time.
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