I knew a little about Coco Chanel, or at least I thought I did until I picked up this book!

The book was well laid out and I was really intrigued by her childhood and upbringing and I was fascinated by the stories she told and how she changed her past as and when it suited her – particularly with her “aunts” who actually started everything off for her when they taught her how to sew.

Most people know what she was famous for, simplicity, the little black dress and Chanel No.  but there was a lot more to her as the author shows.  

The book is well written and I liked the memories that were imparted from the people who knew and loved her and they have shown a lot about her character and what she was really like below the surface.  She was a determined lady with strong beliefs and a fabulous artistic ability, I loved that as well as changing the fashion world as it was known at the time, she was also sponsoring artists to help them bloom and develop.

She was a fascinating character and one I have really enjoyed reading about.  It is 4 stars from me for this one – a great biography looking at a fashion icon – highly recommended!

The Real. Coco Chanel was a DNF for me at the 9% mark, and that was even a stretch. This would be more enjoyable as historic fiction rather than trying to be a biography. It felt like each story the author told, it was quickly pointed out the Coco had a big imagination so none of what was said may be true. Also, using another biography as a reference....I realized that if it's such a good source,  then I'd rather read that book instead of this one.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC for an honest review.

Okayish but i dnfed this book after fifth chapter . This book is not for me. Sorry though thanks netgalley for this

This was a very enjoyable read. Everybody loved Coco Chanel and this book gives us even more insight into her extraordinary life. She was born into a poor family and was abandoned into an orphanage y her father when her mother dies. She was taught to sew while there, the skill which enabled her trade which allowed her succeed in becoming the icon we know and love today. From clothing, to hats to perfume, she did it all and did so incredibly successfully.  He climb to the top was fraught with challenges however. Her world was dominated by men and she faced resistance around very turn. She was determined to succeed however and succeed she did. She mixed with the upper circles of society and so many of those she encountered were mentioned in this book, references I found fascinating. Between her career, her encounters and her love life I really was engrossed in this book. I enjoyed it immensely. I give it 4.5 stars.

Fascinating and interesting read about Coco Chanel, giving an insight about how she lived and her relationships. 

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

The Real Coco Chanel
by Rose Sgueglia


 Pen & Sword 
White Owl
 Biographies & Memoirs  |  Nonfiction (Adult) 
Pub Date 30 Jun 2020




I am reviewing a copy of The Real Coco Chanel through Pen & Sword/ White Owl and Netgalley:



Coco Chanel lived the life as a romantic heroine.  Fueled in part by the romantic literature of the nineteenth century, a life that was partly fiction and partly fact.



Coco Chanel did not only help redefine fashion, but also changed the views of what it meant to be a woman.


It was Coco Chanel who turned the little black dress into a fashion statement at a time when black was meant for mourning.  She was also one of the first women to wear pants.  



Coco Chanel was the fashion designer that was admired by everyone.  A business woman whose fortune was impossible to track.  Coco Chanel was also a performer, she was the lover of many high profile intellectuals, and she was believed to be a Nazi Spy by some.



Her life was extraordinarily affected by history (World War 2, the Nazi Movement). And it was affected by symbolism and literature.



This biography tells of how Coco Chanel overcame a troubled and poor past, to become one of the most recognized names in Fashion.



I give The Real Coco Chanel five out of five stars.


Happy  Reading!

Terrific read shows us who the real Coco Chanel.Her close friends her affairs the private life she lead.Absolutely wonderful intimate look at the real woman.#netgalley#penn&sword

This is a comprehensive book about the amazing Coco Chanel which covers not only her fashion career, but her affairs, her friends, her actions during the war and her legacy. It also contains interviews with curators of museums and people who knew Chanel herself. The writing was a delight to read, although a bit wordy at times, but I thought that Rose Sgueglia was a bit too sympathetic about Chanel's affair with a Nazi and her suspected treachery.



I received this ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the digital copy of the book for honest review.

The name Chanel reminds us of the brand. It reminds us of Coco Chanel. But do we know Gabriel Chansel? This book provides insights into Coco Chanel's life. It was an interesting read.

I was looking forward to reading The Real Coco Chanel by Rose Sgueglia. I expected quite a bit about Chanel No 5 and about her designs. However, the book is mostly about her relationships with other people.

It’s possibly the most badly written book I’ve ever read. The author has no idea how to use commas and other punctuation. I suspect the author’s first language isn’t English, as some wording doesn’t ring true, e.g. a “right-hand movement” rather than a “right-wing” one. Coco’s childhood didn’t inspire her trademark; her daughter did. Coco opened her boutiques in Deauville, Biarritz and Paris during the First World War, not the Second. 

“While Coco was more accustomed to the idea of death and its lapidary conclusion…”. Lapidary? Huh?

One paragraph opens with Stravinsky’s widow disputing with his children over his will. The next but one sentence tells us about their wedding; and then, later in the paragraph, we’re told what Vera did before marrying Stravinsky. For goodness’ sake, unfold the tale in chronological order!

She contradicts herself within a page. Talking about Misia Sert, Sgueglia states “for one reason or another, they had instantly liked each other”. On the next page, we have “They did not like each other instantly”.

“The time for parties and artists and passionate affairs had officially come to an end…” Officially? You mean there is an official who goes around telling people “I’m sorry. No more parties, artists or affairs for YOU”?

Reading the book made me realise what an unsung hero an editor is; how they probably spend most of their day correcting poor grammar; improving poor choices of words; and delicately restructuring prose into a tighter, flowing enjoyable narrative. No such editor worked on this book, I’m afraid.

#TheRealCocoChanel #NetGalley

Coco Chanel lived an eventful life. From a poor child abandoned at an orphanage, she became a world famous fashion icon. All of this – from birth to death - is covered in this biography The Real Coco Chanel.

Unfortunately I found the book hard to read. I wish more editing would be done to make this life story more cohesive and readable. 

Thank you Netgalley and Pen and Sword for the ARC. This is my honest opinion.

I was not a fan, either of this biography, or of the woman it was about.  The book added nothing new to Chanel's story and it was structured in an odd way.  Much of the book seemed to be striving for a novelized format, putting thoughts into Chanel's head and words into her mouth with no justification.  Other parts were in a simple question and answer format, answered by Chanel's friends and associates.  This was jarring as I could never really settle into the style of the book.  But probably the worst thing, for me, was Sgueglia's extremely fangirlish POV.  She seemed to go to some trouble to point out (correctly) that Chanel was probably not a Nazi spy, but glossed over the certain fact that she was definately a Nazi collaborator who escaped punishment for it because she had rich and powerful friends.  I can and have enjoyed biographies of unlikeable people; but I found the attempt to make a romantic heroine of this snobbish and self-absorbed woman to be distasteful.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for my review.

I was lucky enough to get a preview of The Real Coco Chanel by Rose Sgueglia from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The Real Coco Chanel is an unconventional biography of the iconic founder of the House of Chanel - now one of the biggest luxury fashion houses in the world. This book is not concerned with solid timelines and provable facts like most biographies, instead, due to the extremely individualistic nature of its subject matter, it gives time to the hearsay and rumours surrounding her. When I was starting this book, I had no clue of Chanel’s real influence on the world around her as well as her questionable political affiliations that make her a problematic figure. By looking at the different facets of Chanel’s dazzling character this book gives insight into her influence over the fashion, art, music and cultural scene of Paris during the years where she was fighting for more practical, simple and functional clothes for women. 

For me, this book’s value lies in the thorough context that it sets up around Chanel, both through historical, socio-cultural and fashion history. Coco Chanel was not an island: she was a living, breathing artist, who surrounded herself with some of the most influential people of her time, who strove for nothing less than perfection. The book’s inclusions of rumours as well as facts fleshes out her personality, her character, her intentions and her values expertly. The spotlights in the chapter that tackles ‘Coco, The Friend’ includes those closest to Coco with some famous names like Picasso, as well as some obscure characters - so interesting I researched them further whilst I was reading.

In the modern-day, we might call Coco ‘a social climber’ as she uses her contacts, networking constantly, to curate her image through other people. The book tackles Coco’s ever-shifting character quite well this way - it sets up the idea that Coco made herself from nothing, and so everything from the ground up was her own invention. Chanel fashioned more than just clothes in her lifetime - she fashioned her family history to suit her image as well as her own.

I loved the final chapter, where Coco’s biggest achievements are collated as well as her most iconic photos. Things that we take for granted now, such as women wearing trousers and jersey cotton as a comfortable fabric, are highlighted in this section about her legacy. It did well to cinch the story together for me and went on to discuss Karl Lagerfeld’s influence once he took over the brand.


One of my criticisms about this book is that it’s writing style was difficult to engage with at times. The constant repetition and foregrounding of future events made it hard to get hooked into the story, which should have been the gripping story of the orphan girl left in a nunnery. It’s hard to explain, but there’s lots of repeated phrasing and emphasis on the same points over and over again that makes the book a little repetitive to read. I also found that the skipping back and forth through Coco’s life a little odd - the book is mainly linear but isn’t afraid to go into detail about some future event if it’s related to the current facet of Coco it’s unravelling. However, despite the slightly jarring nature of this, I understand how it may be necessary to the book’s intention of peeling back the layers of Coco (like Shrek, I guess - I never thought I’d make a comparison between Coco Chanel and Shrek) and ultimately it did not stop me enjoying the book. Biographies can be difficult for me to engage with unless told with a story like narrative, but this one’s fresh take on Chanel illuminated her brilliantly as an icon, as well as the problematic and fallible woman she was.

Rating: ***/5

Thank. you for the advanced e-ARC win exchange for my honest review. I will post my review on Goodreads and Amazon.

With thanks to negalley for an early copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, before I picked this up I didn't know much about the life of Coco Chanel but feel Rose gave us a thorough account of her life without being too overwhelming. The book was written well with some parts better than the others, her early life was told well as was her rise to fame however the relationships section although interesting to see her catalogue of lovers felt a bit tedious. Overall I would definitely recommend this book to all.

4.5 stars.
This book was fascinating. A really insightful look in to the world of one of fashions most famous names. I knew very little about Coco Chanel and the cover of this book attracted me straightaway.
Abandoned in an orphanage by her Father after her Mothers death this biography features her life from the start until her death. Raised by Nuns she was taught how to sew and that sparked a passion.
Along the way we learn how her upbringing shapes her, her personality, drive, determination & inspiration to succeed in a male dominated industry and smash the gender stereotype of fashion.
I think the bits I found most interesting was the 'name dropping' the big names she had as her friends Pablo Picasso, Churchill, and famous authors, poets, designers, artists & composers of the time amongst many. Designing the costumes of the dancers in Ballet Ruses and Jean Cocteau's play Orphee kept her in the spotlight plus those that adored and wore her fashion such as Jackie Kennedy on the day of John Kennedy's assassination. 
Chanel struggled to get along with women preferring mens company but the few she did she held close.
Her complicated love life was a large part of the book and even included the Duke of Westminster who was so infatuated with her put her design on every lamp post in Westminster. But he was just one of the men in her life. Coco was aware quite early on that not been from aristocracy or having had the right upbringing made her unsuitable as marriage material in the circles she moved in so often she played the part of the 'other woman" and by the time she was successful in her own right she didn't want what she thought was the trappings of marriage turning down a few rumoured proposals in her time. 
A proud lady she had accepted financial help when starting out on her fashion ventures from her lovers Balsan and then Arthur Capel but she paid back every penny as she could and never forgot those that helped her along the way when she became successful and successful she was. She designed the trouser suit for women, the little black dress and the renowned number 5 perfume. Her main vision was to make fashion comfortable for women and do away with the corset.
Chanel closed her business after World War two reportedly going in to exile and shortly after that this story finished.
A book I enjoyed very much. I constantly kept stopping and researching along the way curious as to what these people, pictures and places looked like and for me the inclusion of some photo's would have been perfect. I know there were a few at the end. But this did not distract too much from the overall enjoyment. A book I would highly recommend.
My thanks go to the publishers, author and Netgalley in providing this arc in return for a honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pen & Sword for the ARC in return for an honest feedback. I wish I could return the favour by giving a five star review for this book but alas! It isn't meant to be this time.

I had opted for this book because of two main reasons. Foremost is the fact that I really enjoy reading autobiographies, biographies and memoirs. Secondly, I had long back watched the movie "Coco before Chanel" and that had really intrigued me to know more about Coco the person. 

This book starts off on the right track but slowly, something strikes you as off. It takes a few pages for you to realise the problem: the author seems to delight in guessing Coco's reactions at certain events. As it is, the facts related to Coco's life are shrouded in mystery because of her fierce privacy. So what the author could have done is to build an intriguing and dramatic story about how the little orphan Coco began her interest in fashion and became so successful without having supportive family or finances.  But what we get instead is a haphazard narrative that seems to hop, skip and jump all over the timeline. The initial few pages seem to flow in a manner that makes you want to go ahead. But after the part where Coco is left at the orphanage, the writing is too random between the past and present. Unnecessary facts are provided in detail just to lengthen the material. A biographical book needs to leave you like you know the person well; this book doesn't create any such feeling in you but rather seems to be working on a lot of conjecture. This is also the first time ever I have seen a biographer quote another biography as a source for the facts mentioned (when she quotes from Madsen's biography). 

I attempted this book twice and kept it aside, only to pick it up again just to complete it. But I simply couldn't get over the amateurish writing. This ends up a DNF at 25%.

"The Real Coco Chanel" followed the real life of fashion icon, Coco Chanel. This book not only showed the good parts of Coco, but also the real parts.  

I did not enjoy this nor did I not enjoy it either, I had trouble starting this book but it got better around the second half of it. This just felt like a book on Coco's relationships with others. This book was very real, doing the title justice. Coco's true parts were revealed during this as well. It showed how she felt like her rivals were copying her or jealous of her. Overall, this book was a little hard to get in to and it didn't have me hooked but this book did get the message across about Coco's true self and not just the good things the media always presents.

All in all, I didn't truly feel hooked onto this book but I would recommend this to true nonfiction lovers that want the real details in everything.

The name Chanel carries with a certain pizzazz.  Frissons of excitement go through a person when they are face to face with an item that carries this name that speaks of exclusivity, style and money. Chanel is a luxury company that focuses on high fashion and ready-made clothes, luxury products, and accessories and the person behind the company, Coco Chanel really is a mystery and a wonder wrapped in a petite frame of a woman with a spirit of steel. 

Many books, movies and even musicals have been written about the woman Coco Chanel, all claiming to have a greater insight into what made this creative masterpiece of a woman work. This biography does give understanding into several aspects of Chanel’s life as her life as a romantic hero, the orphan, the woman, the designer, the spy and the icon. This is not a biography starting from her birth and following her life in an orderly manner. Rather it explores her life around topics, slowly revealing more of the woman as the piece develops. 

Sgueglia has written a short biography that is accessible to even novices on the genre and gives an interesting overview of the woman that is now looked upon as the embodiment of fashion and style.  There are small surprises for the reader to discover such as Chanel being a drug addict, injecting morphine throughout her life and her love of and huge collection of books hidden within the pages of this work. But the very real humanness of Chanel, the woman wanting to fit into a society that she was excluded from simply because of her circumstances of birth, the desire to create a better history, the ruthlessness of cutting out existing members of her family because they didn’t fit her narrative are all written about and considered.  Given the magic that is the name of Chanel, this book is sure to find a large market of devotees who will clamour to read more about this woman and it does the story  very well.

This is a delightful little read. The author's enthusiasm for  her subject is apparent and I truly enjoyed her writing. The way she presented Coco Chanel's rise to fame and fortune against all odds is an interesting spin, and one I thoroughly enjoyed.  I also like that Mademoiselle's fascination with mysticism is discussed. Well done.