Review by New York Times Review
NEARLY a century after Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel opened her first shop on the exclusive Rue Cambon in Paris, the name Chanel remains synonymous with fashion. The revolutionary designer had a rich and dramatic life, and even the necessarily simplified version Elizabeth Matthews offers in her likable first book is lively and inspiring. Embrace what makes you different, Matthews suggests, and you will find success. Born illegitimate in 1883 in a provincial French town, Gabrielle Chanel grew up very poor, with five siblings. Though her parents married when she was a baby, her mother died young, and Coco and her sisters were sent to an orphanage. Her restless and resourceful nature, combined with an insatiable taste for whatever bits of luxury she encountered, drove her to become a hard-working diva of fashion and society. In her pursuit of fame and wealth Chanel inspired - and exuded - passion, extravagance, jealousy and outrage. She became an icon of her time but, in spite of her celebrity and affluence, never found lasting love, never had a family and died embittered and alone. Matthews presents Chanel's austere childhood with mixed success. One particularly evocative illustration depicts the bleak landscape of the orphanage, punctuated by the thick blackness of the nun's habits. But other pictures are incongruously jaunty. In later pages Matthews captures the daring new look of Chanel's designs - the sleek silhouette achieved by the open cardigan, the long pearls, the close-fitting hat - and its striking contrast to the lavishness of the gowns and millinery then in vogue. Often, however, her cartoonish pen-and-ink drawings and breezy text belie both the severity of Chanel's early years and the fierceness of her later ones. Also troubling are the occasional anachronisms, like the charming but decidedly contemporary opening picture of skinny little Gabrielle holding a roll of toilet paper (in 19th-century France?) with which she is stuffing her slip in an effort to create a rounded bosom. Other details beg explanation, or could have used further comment. Most adult readers will be able to explain who Picasso was, but many will draw a blank on Paul Poiret, the avant-garde designer who said about his competitor's style: "Until now, women were beautiful and architectural. ... Now they resemble undernourished telephone operators." While appealing, "Different Like Coco" is misleading in its lighthearted portrayal of a figure who was every bit as sharp, arrogant and lonely as she was defiant and glamorous. More important, Matthews does not fully convey the significance of Coco's achievements (though a closing timeline helps). Chanel's legacy is not that she was "always different" - and definitely not that everyone loved her, as the closing lines proclaim - but that the clothing she created played a pivotal role in the changing identity of women. Krystyna Poray Goddu's most recent book is "Dollmakers and Their Stories: Women Who Changed the World of Play."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 27, 2009]
Review by Booklist Review
As it turns out, Coco Chanel is a terrific subject for a picture-book biography. A poor, skinny orphan, she brightened her colorless convent childhood by sewing dresses for her dolls. She also dreamed big dreams. Once she was on her own, she turned her tailoring talent into a career as a dress designer. Coco, who was sticklike rather than shapely, designed dresses for figures like hers. Soon, her clothes were being snapped up, and thanks to her enigmatic personality and sense of style, she became a celebrity. Matthews' writing style is right on the mark, as breezy and appealing as Coco herself. Wisely, the author frontloads the book with stories of Coco's disadvantaged youth, which have immediate pull for readers. It's too bad that the pictures don't measure up to the writing. Although often amusing, and occasionally moving, they never capture Coco's elegance. Moreover, all the characters have snoutlike noses that are seriously distracting. Despite that, this rags-to-much-nicer-rags story is well worth reading. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Matthews makes her children's book debut with panache with this portrait of the famously avant-garde Coco Chanel. "At a time when France was the center of all that was wealthy, grandiose, and fashionable, Gabrielle `Coco' Chanel was born poor and skinny. Coco was always different," the text begins. Colorful snippets about her 19th-century girlhood will be the most likely to captivate youngsters: Coco preferred to play alone, pretending to act like the grand ladies in stylish shops. Sent at the age of 12 to live in an orphanage after her mother died, she learned to sew and made lovely rag dolls. She could not afford to dress like "the corseted ladies of high society," so instead blazed her own unique fashion trail. She designed practical, simple (uncorseted!) clothes while working in a tailor shop, and later sold her dresses from a Paris boutique, financed by her wealthy British suitor. Matthews reveals how Chanel's designs took off through their sheer practicality at the onset of WWI, and how the designer's rebelliousness reached beyond her fashions. The woman demanded to be treated as an equal by her wealthy clients, challenging the established social order: "Coco offered women not only freedom from corsets, but freedom from social constraints as well." Thus, Matthews offers a snapshot of European history through one extraordinary woman's life. (The author saves some of the juiciest tidbits-of special interest to fashion buffs-for a concluding timeline.) Airy, at times wry pen-and-ink and watercolor wash drawings capture the spunk-and sans doute the style-of this independent-minded, influential fashion maven. Ages 5-9. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-6-A celebration of the life of a major fashion designer and independent spirit. Chanel was born poor, was scorned, and ultimately succeeded because of her own talents. "Coco couldn't afford to dress like the corseted ladies of high society and she was never going to be shapely. There was no point in trying to be like them. Instead, she tried to be different." Like Kathryn Lasky's Vision of Beauty (Candlewick, 2000), this imaginative tale should be shared with every child who thinks Jane O'Connor's Fancy Nancy (HarperCollins, 2005) is the epitome of high fashion. The story is accompanied, appropriately, by elegant pen-and-ink and watercolor cartoons that capture her struggles as a young woman, as well as her innate sense of style. Viva, Coco.-Kathleen Whalin, York Public Library, ME (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Primary, Intermediate) In this picture-book biography, Matthews presents fashion icon Coco Chanel as a spirited young girl who overcame poverty with her creativity and a lot of attitude. Fueled by a rich fantasy life, the poor, skinny girl imagines herself among fashionable high society. In a drab orphanage she sews beautiful dolls; at finishing school she assumes the manner and confidence of the wealthy young ladies there, despite the humiliation of having to sit with the other charity cases. Her confidence and originality are translated directly into her designs. Discarding corsets and full skirts, Coco creates slim, practical clothing suited to her own slender frame. Changes brought by World War I, including women's need for work clothes, help make her a success. Matthews allows some brief words from Coco's critics but dismisses them as lightly as Coco would herself. The amusing pen-and-ink drawings capture Coco's bearing and style, from the first illustration of the small girl stuffing toilet paper in her chemise to the confident stride of the mature woman in sporty yet elegantly draped clothes. The selected highlights from Chanel's life present her against a backdrop of social change, celebrating all the while the influential designer's daring and independence. A timeline and bibliography are included. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
With an economy of storyline and a strong sense of style, Matthews distills the contradictory life of Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel into a neat and fashionable package. Her pen-and-ink drawings have energy and panache, and she makes limpidly clear just how revolutionary Chanel was. She brought comfortable clothing for women into a world full of Edwardian corsets; she boldly stole from menswear; and she never married. Her difficult early life is not glossed over but is simplified--mother dies, orphanage, convent school, her own shop underwritten by the one (British, wealthy) boyfriend mentioned. Young readers will love the sweep and detail of the images, the vividness of the characters' expressions and the humor on almost every page. The endpapers are covered with quotations from Chanel: "Luxury must be comfortable; otherwise it is not luxury." (timeline, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 7-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
