last monday, maison de la france was kind enough to invite me to a screening and champagne reception for the new movie, coco avant chanel.
the film stars the winsome audrey tautou as gabrielle “coco” chanel and focuses on coco chanel’s life before she became a fashion powerhouse. tautou portrays her perfectly and you see hints of chanel’s sartorial greatness throughout the film as she alters gowns into menswear or constructs hats sans frills or furbelows, which were popular during the early part of the 20th century thanks to the atrocious gibson girl phenomenon.
but coco avant chanel isn’t really a movie about fashion per se. relationships are central here, the ones with her sister, her protector, her english lover and most of all, auvergne. chanel was allegedly born in auvergne and the movie pays loving homage to it. while auvergne isn’t as well known as other regions in france, it does have its unique draws such as dormant volcanos (yes, volcanos in france!) and the therapeutic water town of vichy…
