Palasse, André (C’s nephew), 32–3, 53, 75, 104, 181, 250, 252, 254, 278
Palasse, Hélène (C’s great-niece), 53, 278
Pantin, 123, 125
Pantz, Baron Hubert von, 192
Parker, Dorothy, 176
Parker, Suzy, 310, 311
Paris: balls and parties, 192, 246; C’s diamond exhibition, 217–20; connection with Riviera, 176; Convent of the Sacred Heart, 98; Depression, 207, 217, 218; dressmaking in, 138–9; exodus from, 250–1; German embassy, 240; German occupation, 245, 251–4, 270, 325; Lelong on couture, 253; Liberation, 262–7; Misia as queen of, 95; Modernism in, 106–7; moral tone of, 65, 82; Opera, 87, 92; preinvasion, 246–50; riot (1934), 229–31; Russian émigrés in, 128; society, 68, 83, 134, 162, 222, 241
Pau, 62–3
Pavlova, Anna, 159
Pavlovich, Grand Duke Dmitri: C supports, 129, 164; and Cuir de Russie, 137; death, 282; introduces Beaux to C, 114; love affair with C, 114, 124, 128–9, 131, 135, 137, 140, 164, 241; marriage, 128, 206; mistresses, 164; photographs of, 7, 124; Rasputin plot, 129
Pavlovna, Grand Duchess Maria, 137–43, 311
Picasso, Pablo: designs for Ballets Russes, 106, 137, 176; gossip on Misia, 95; Misia ‘protects’ C, 106; portrait of Reverdy, 107; sailor top, 177; sets for Antigone, 105, 213; visits Riviera, 176; in WWII, 265
Poiret, Paul, 70, 120, 140, 206, 223
Polge, Jacques, 125
Ponsonby, Loelia, 164–5, 186–9
Porter, Cole, 176
Porter, Darwin, 270
Previn, André, 316
Proust, Marcel, 55, 95, 125
Putiatin, Prince Sergei, 138
Radiguet, Raymond, 198
Rasputin, Grigori Yefimovich, 7, 127
Ray, Man, 163, 176
René the Florentine, 121, 122
Renoir, Jean, 292
Resnais, Alain, 293
Reverdy, Pierre: love affair with C, 108, 109–11; Misia discovers, 106; Nord-Sud, 106–7; as poet, 109, 110–11, 324
Ribblesdale, Lord, 81, 160
Ristelhueber, Boulos, 272
Rome, 103, 127, 244–5, 256, 259, 260
Ross, Lillian, 295–8
Rosslyn, Lady, 89
Rothschild, Baronesse Diane de, 272
Rothschild, Baronesse Marie-Hélène de, 272, 284
Rowley, George, 161
Royallieu, château de, 46, 48, 51–5, 58, 61, 67, 78, 128
Rue Cambon: actors at, 292; Bendor at, 165, 168, 188; books, 4; boutique, 79, 96, 272, 306; chandeliers, 11, 111;
Chanel N°5 sprayed in, 118, 125, 325; expansion, 90, 173; Hélène at, 278; mirrored staircase, 2–3, 125, 334; Muggeridge at, 265–7; Russians at, 137, 222; salon, 4–11, 32; Spatz at, 237, 253; Swanson at, 210–11; in WWII, 246
Russia: C’s embroidery, 36, 45; influences C, 137, 142–3; perfumers in, 114; Revolution, 114, 127–8, 129, 137–8, 139
Saint-Laurent, Yves, 289, 296, 333
St Moritz, 191, 253, 280
Schellenberg, Walter, 256, 257, 260–1, 269, 278–80
Schiaparelli, Elsa, 247, 250
Schieber, Walter, 261
Schneider, Romy, 292
Scotland: C’s designs at Rosehall, 166–7, 171; first bidet in Highlands, 166; influences C, 171; Lochmore, 145, 169, 171; Reay Forest estate, 145–7, 169, 244
Sert, José-Maria, 96–7, 101–4, 108, 134–5, 169, 201, 223, 282
Sert, Misia: and Bendor, 169; and Chanel N°5, 120–2; C’s ‘affair with Stravinsky, 134, 135; C’s sole woman friend, 101–2; death, 282, 311; death of Diaghilev, 201–2; discovers Reverdy, 106; early life, 98–101; eating at La Pausa, 184; friend of Diaghilev, 96, 104–5; inspires Cocteau, 97–8; introduces Reverdy to C, 108; and lribe, 223; Italian trip, 103–4; as ‘Jewish, 272; marriage ends, 201; meets C, 96, 101; and Morand, 280; and Paris, 95, 222; passions, 97; pianist, 95–6, 98; ‘protects’ C from Picasso, 106; on Russian Revolution, 127; Satie on, 106; smell of apartment, 120; in US with C, 207, 214; in WWII, 253
Seyrig, Delphine, 293
Sibell, Lady, 148, 149, 156
Snow, Carmel, 247
Solesmes, abbey of, 108, 109, 110
Stravinsky, Catherine, 133, 134, 135
Stravinsky, Igor: ‘affair with C, 133–5; Apollon musagète, 213; C supports, 130–1, 135–6, 164; gifts to C, 295, 309; grave, 202; Le Sacre du printemps, 104–5, 130, 133; Les cinq doigts, 133; orchestrates folk song, 127; in Switzerland, 128; Symphonie pour instruments à vent, 131–2; and Vera de Bosset, 135
Streitz, Robert, 178–9, 253
Stroheim, Erich von, 210
Susann, Jacqueline, 310
Swanson, Gloria, 210–11
Taylor, Elizabeth, 293
United States: adopts C, 287–8, 298–9; C and Hollywood, 205–15, 293; C’s comeback collection, 287–8; C’s article, 231–2; C’s father in, 25, 36, 42, 46, 214; Iribe and Hollywood, 226, 232–4; Kennedys, 300–7
Updike, John, 273
Vadim, Roger, 292
Valentino, 306
Varennes-sur-Allier, 39, 41
Venice, 104, 169, 192, 197, 201–2
Versailles, 82, 83, 245, 304
Vichy, 45–6, 251
Vilmorin, Louise de, 280
Visconti, Luchino, 292
Vreeland, Diana, 245, 246
Weeks, Barbara, 210
Wertheimer, Alain, 123
Wertheimer, Gerard, 123
Wertheimer, Paul, 123, 269–70, 273, 275–9, 298
Wertheimer, Pierre, 122–5, 269–70, 273, 275–9, 285, 298
Westminster, 2nd Duke of (‘Bendor’): bored by C’s friends, 169; C on, 164–5, 168, 169; children, 156, 157, 159, 192–4; and Churchill, 147, 149, 160, 161, 243–4; C’s pseudonym, 261; death, 147–8, 282; death of Diaghilev, 201–2; death of Wyndham, 160–1; as English, 19; gifts to C, 11, 165, 171, 186, 188–9, 220, 251; godfather to Gabrielle, 179–81; hunting, 159, 165; and La Pausa, 173, 177, 184, 185; love affair with C, 147, 164–71, 181, 186, 188–9, 192–4, 232, 242, 245, 266, 325; marriage to Loelia, 164–5, 186–9; to Shelagh, 149, 156, 157–60, 165; to Violet, 162, 165; Mary’s ball, 192–5; meets C, 148, 161; military career, 149, 160–1; mistresses, 159, 165, 186; ‘only one Coco Chanel’, 171; opposes WWII, 244; as playboy, 148; shoes, 292; son’s death, 157, 159; sports, 148, 149–50; upbringing, 148–9; wealth, 18, 148, 164, 165, 169
Westmorland, 14th Earl of, 90
White, Montague Graham, 192
Windsor, Duchess of, 245, 262
Windsor, Duke of, 165, 184–5, 245, 262, 292, 325
Wyndham, George, 148–9, 156, 160
Wyndham, Percy, 81, 148, 160–1
Zogheb, Henri de, 243
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book could only have been written with the help of many others. Coco Chanel’s niece, Gabrielle Labrunie, and her friend, Claude Delay, were very generous in sharing their memories and insights. I am also hugely grateful to Karl Lagerfeld, whose knowledge and understanding of Chanel is unrivalled, and to all those at Chanel who provided erudition and expertise: in particular, Marie-Louise de Clermont-Tonnerre and Cécile Goddet-Dirles, for invaluable wisdom in Paris, and Jo Allison and Julie-Anne Dorff for advice and friendship in London. Marika Genty, Patrick Doucet, Marie Hamelin, Julie Deydier and Odile Babin at the Chanel Conservatoire in Paris were exceptionally kind and meticulous in answering my innumerable questions; as were many others in the Paris headquarters, including Jacques Polge, Amanda Harlech, Sigrid de l’Epine, Elsa Heizmann, Veronique Perez and Laurence Delamare. I am equally grateful to Olivier Nicolay at Chanel UK, and all in his London team, including Sarah Brooks, Zoe Evans, Phily Keeling, Nathalie Rumpf and Mighela Shama.
I was able to enjoy unrivalled access to the Grosvenor family archives and would like to express special thanks to the Duke of Westminster KG CB OBE TD CD DL for making that possible. Andrew Riley and Sophie Bridges guided me skilfully through the Churchill archives in Cambridge.
Nicholas Coleridge gave me access to the Condé Nast archives, where I was helped by Bonnie Robinson. Gavin Fuller and Lorraine Goodspeed provided much support at the Telegraph library, as did Luci Gosling at the Mary Evans library; while Zoe Batt assisted with research at these archives and others. Matthieu Goffard opened doors into the history of the Ritz Paris; Jennifer Graesser kindly allowed me to visit her at Rosehall, as did George and Sarah Lopes in Sutherland. I was made welcome by Soeur Laeticia, Lucile Casadesus, Didier Rovoal and Jean-Louis Sol in Aubazine. Malene Rydahl regularly provided solace and comfort in Paris.
Hugo Vickers was an inimitable guide to the Cecil Beaton papers, and a great deal else besides. I am also indebted to Sally Bedell Smith for sharing her detailed knowledge of Jackie Kennedy and the Kennedy White House; to Gilberte Beaux, for historical information about Ernest Beaux and the Beaux family; and to Richard Griffiths for his scholarly investigations into the European Right and British fascism in the 1930s. Anna Murphy, my editor at Stella, has been unfailingly supportive; likewise the editor of the Sunday Telegraph, Ian MacGregor.
I could not have been better served by the editorial team at HarperCollins: thanks to Carole Tonkinson for her remarkable patience and insight; Victoria McGeown for her faultless eye for detail and design; and to Jennifer Barth, Patrick Budge, Caroline Hotblack and Anna Gibson. I am grateful, as always, to Maggie Phillips, Linda Van and Charlie Campbell at Ed Victor Ltd; and to Ed Victor himself, who never lost confidence in me, even when I lost confidence in myself.
Many thanks, too, for encouragement and perceptive suggestions: Jessica Adams, Sam Baker, Sophie Dahl, Adam Phillips, Polly Samson, Alexandra Shulman, Harry Wyndham, Lucy Yeomans. To my mother, Hilary Britten, and my sons, Jamie and Tom MacColl: thank you, always, for everything.
And Philip Astor: a rigorous critic who read and corrected each draft of manuscript; my companion on the serendipitous trail of Coco Chanel, from Cape Wrath to Cap Martin, without whom I would have lost my way … je t’embrasse.
COPYRIGHT
© Justine Picardie 2010
Justine Picardie asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9780061963858
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