Culture Chanel

The Woman Who Reads

by Jean-Louis Froment

Gabrielle Chanel was a friend of the greatest poets, writers, musicians, and artists of her time, as well as an avid reader who found inspiration in literature and poetry. Throughout the famous couturière’s life, the works of Plato, Saint Augustine, Shakespeare, Alexandre Pouchkine, Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert, Thomas Mann, Pierre Reverdy, Max Jacob, Jean Cocteau, and more played a significant role in nurturing her imagination. In CULTURE CHANEL: The Woman Who Reads, author and curator Jean-Louis Froment highlights connections between texts, photographs, paintings, drawings, jewelry, perfume, and clothing designs, revealing an aesthetic language–which can be seen throughout Chanel’s many enduring contributions to the fashion world–in the light of the written words that shaped her life.