Intimate Chanel

The most personal account of the life and work of legendary designer Coco Chanel ever published, with contributions from her great-niece and from the archives of her eponymous fashion house.

Coco Chanel's life and work have often been recounted in print and film—all but the details of her most private self: her penchant for symbolism and poetry, the men she loved, her family, and especially her nephew André Palasse, whom she raised as a son. His daughter Gabrielle Palasse-Labrunie – Chanel's only direct descendant and goddaughter of both Chanel and the Duke of Westminster – enjoyed a close relationship with the designer for more than forty years.

In this biography, she opens her doors and shares personal memories of her great aunt. Divided into five chronological parts, including Chanel's dark periods, this work plunges the reader into the icon's private world and offers intimate insight. Photographs of Chanel's personal belongings, many of which have never been seen or published before, include gifts from her great love Boy Capel, furniture, favorite jewellery, charms, clothing, family photographs, rare documents, correspondence and books with personal inscriptions.

Fashion house Chanel has offered privileged access to the iconic pieces of the couturier in its archives. In Intimate Chanel, Palasse-Labrunie reveals all that was "important" to her great-aunt and recounts their private conversations, revealing who her "Aunt Coco" really was: a very different Chanel from her public persona.