Along came Coco: A story about Coco Chanel

“I decided who I wanted to be, and that is who I am” - Coco Chanel On the occasion of two major anniversaries related to the greatest fashion designer of all time – 50 years from her demise and 100 years from the launch of Chanel No. 5 – Eva Byrne imagines, for her young readers, who Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel was before she became “Madame Gabrielle”. As a child, Coco was free, determined, inventive. As an adult, she became a great woman who revolutionised the way women dress, asserting herself as a key figure in fashion design and establishing one of the largest empires in the history of fashion. As a little girl, she had always known how to stand up for what she believed in, and she grew into a strong-minded woman who fought against the established views on women that permeated 20th-century culture by doing what she was best at: making clothes. “Up to then, we catered to useless, idle women, women who had maids help them dress; but I already had a clientèle of active women; an active woman has to feel comfortable in her dress. A woman needs to be able to roll up her sleeves.”   Coco. La ragazza libera Eva Byrne Mondadori Electa, 2020