Jacques Helleu joined the house of Chanel at the age of eighteen and served as its artistic director for over 40 years. Helleu was the driving force behind the house's bold commercials and print ads created by photographer Helmut Newton and director Baz Luhrman, for example, and featured the likes of Catherine Deneuve, Nicole Kidman, Kate Moss and Keira Knightley. It is safe to say that Helleu helped establish Chanel as a key brand name in the modern consumer market.
The first section is a biography of sorts about Jacques Helleu and then the rest of the book is literally an A - Z pictorial of people, places and things associated with Chanel. It is a very interesting concept, however, I would have preferred more than a sentence or two for each description. It is filled with such great photography but I was kind of left wanting more details. It was like walking through a museum and reading the little the art labels - very brief.
Overall, it is a gorgeous and quite heavy - 9.4 pounds! The
Amazon.com picture above is a little misleading; it actually comes in a black holder (pictured) and the book itself is white. Yes, I wish there were essays beside every single photo but at the end of the day I guess that would have taken away from the overall 280-page aesthetic and it probably would not be as inspiring.
