You Go, Coco


This was actually the post I meant for yesterday; the Le Lac post was to be a little something, and then this. But I got carried away. Speaking of carried away...

This layout of Coco Chanel's apartment is in the same issue of House and Garden, January of 1986. Chic and opulent, it is a stand out against the deco design craze of her day.

I love how the rooms are a symphony of the same tone. Taupe, carmel, honey. She called these earth colors. I always think I want that and end up with a house that looks like a handful of M&M's.


For someone who streamlined - revolutionized - women's dressing, she had a lot of stuff. Chanel watched her friends closely, and learned from them, but decorated her home herself. She said, "An interior is the natural projection of the soul."

The author, Edmonde Charles-Roux, quotes Chanel in the article as saying she hates women who collect things. Yet she had a number of lions in her home, an homage to her astrological sign. And a good one, I might add.



In adddition, the author notes she considered corn her luck charm and he references these book bindings. I don't want to quibble with Chanel, but as a mid west girl, this looks like wheat to me.


There are many brass objects scattered about, although Mme. Chanel reportedly hated "dust catchers." This one contains a crystal from one of her fabulous chandeliers; it fell off one evening while Givenchy was in the drawing room. He placed the crystal in the frog's mouth. It was never removed.

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