{"title":"Books by Justine Picardie","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780008595739","title":"Coco Chanel","description":"\u003cp\u003eJustine Picardie spent years puzzling over the truth about Coco Chanel, peeling away the accretions of romance and lies. Since its publication in 2010, hers has become the definitive Chanel biography. With a new foreword and previously unseen images, this new edition delves even deeper into the life and legacy of this eternally alluring woman.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCoco Chanel was an extraordinary inventor – she conjured up the little black dress, bobbed hair, trousers for women, contemporary chic, best-selling perfumes, and the most successful fashion brand of all time – but she also invented herself, fashioning the myth of her own life with the same dexterity as her couture. While Chanel was supreme innovator and vendor of all things elegant and beautiful, what lies beneath her own glossy myth is far darker. Throwing new light on her passionate and turbulent relationships, this beautifully constructed portrait gives a fresh and penetrating look at how Coco Chanel made herself into her own most powerful creation. Justine Picardie brings the mysterious Gabrielle Chanel out of hiding, to celebrate her great achievements. She examines Chanel's enduring afterlife, as well as her remarkable life, uncovering the consequences of what she covered up, unpicking the seams between truth and legend, yet keeping intact the real fabric of her past.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685920055669,"sku":"9780007318995","price":27.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":43201342734514,"sku":"9780008595739","price":35.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780007318995.jpg?v=1792599160"},{"product_id":"9780571356539","title":"Miss Dior","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e Miss Dior\u003c\/i\u003e is a wartime story of freedom and fascism, beauty and betrayal and \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'a gripping story' (Antonia Fraser).\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e*The New Look, a new Apple TV drama series starring Maisie Williams as Catherine Dior – in a role inspired by Justine Picardie’s \u003ci\u003eMiss Dior\u003c\/i\u003e – is out now*\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Exceptional . . . \u003ci\u003eMiss Dior\u003c\/i\u003e is so much more than a biography. It’s about how necessity can drive people to either terrible deeds or acts of great courage, and how beauty can grow from the worst kinds of horror.’\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDAILY TELEGRAPH\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eMiss Dior\u003c\/i\u003e explores the relationship between the visionary designer Christian Dior and his beloved younger sister Catherine, who inspired his most famous perfume and shaped his vision of femininity. Justine Picardie’s journey takes her to wartime Paris, where Christian honed his couture skills while Catherine dedicated herself to the French Resistance and the battle against the Nazis, until she was captured by the Gestapo and deported to the German concentration camp of Ravensbrück.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTracing the wartime paths of the Dior siblings leads Picardie deep into other hidden histories, and different forms of resistance and sisterhood. She discovers what it means to believe in beauty and hope, despite our knowledge of darkness and despair, and reveals the timeless solace of the natural world in the aftermath of devastation and destruction.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*A beautiful, full colour package featuring over 200 archival images.*\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Extraordinary . . . Picardie uses her investigative reporting skills . . . the result is Netflix-worthy and the pace page-turning . . . Catherine’s story shines — the quiet Dior who preferred flowers to fashion, the unsung heroine who survived the abuse of the Third Reich to help liberate France.’\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43206063620274,"sku":"9780571356539","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571356539_5ab65275-4305-46d8-bc40-5b2b0ae407d3.jpg?v=1786014726"},{"product_id":"9782081513488","title":"Dior in Bloom","description":"\u003cb\u003eCelebrating Dior's floral inspirations in fashion and perfume, this unique volume features a portfolio of rose portraits by acclaimed fashion photographer Nick Knight.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor Christian Dior, perfume was \"a door opening into a hidden world.\" His first, Miss Dior, inspired by the lush gardens of his childhood home in Normandy, forged an inextricable link between his fashion and fragrance creations. Other scents were inspired by evenings in southern France, lit with fireflies and scented with jasmine. The rose bowers of his family home in Granville; his old mill country house; and the Château de la Colle Noire near Grasse--where jasmine, tuberose, and May roses reign supreme and are still cultivated--inspired Dior's most memorable creations. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFlowers were also at the heart of Dior's fashion, from the women-flowers that inspired the late 1940s New Look to the swishing, blossom-like ball gowns embroidered with lavish floral motifs. They have inspired all of the designers who followed him at the House of Dior, from Yves Saint Laurent to John Galliano, and Raf Simons to Maria Grazia Chiuri. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis extraordinary volume blooms with color and inspiration, and includes rose portraits by Nick Knight, previously unpublished archival documents, exquisite details of embroidery and fabrics, perfumes, fashion sketches, and sublime fashion photographs.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56309510668661,"sku":"9782081513488","price":85.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9782081513488_539e4ef3-5de4-4abe-8c50-a166f2ec88ec.jpg?v=1786031832"},{"product_id":"9780571394289","title":"Fashioning the Crown","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A romp through British royal fashion and image-making between the Edwardian era and 1960 . . . Compelling and well-researched' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Magnificent . . . A book that is tart, racy and compulsively readable. The pictures, as you might expect, are gorgeous' \u003c\/b\u003eKathryn Hughes, \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis beautifully illustrated book uncovers the hidden history of the Crown and how it survived a tumultuous era and two world wars.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e**Features over 100 sumptuous images**\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the birth of the house of Windsor in 1917, its leading women – Queen Mary, the Queen Mother, the Duchess of Windsor and Queen Elizabeth II – faced the perils of abdication and assassination, revolution and the rise of fascism, the threat of invasion and all-out war. Their sartorial decisions, alongside those of their royal husbands, projected power and perpetuity, diplomacy and defiance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this cinematic story of espionage and exquisite couture, Justine Picardie reveals the undercover lives of the creators behind the façade — including Hardy Amies, Cecil Beaton, Norman Hartnell and Edward Molyneux — and traces the ways in which visual iconography safeguarded the monarchy, even when their reign seemed to be hanging by a thread.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDrawing on original research in the Royal Archives and her own experiences at Balmoral, Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, Picardie explores the family feuds and international conflicts that challenged the Crown, and how royal fashion has long been wielded as a weapon.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56368067871093,"sku":"9780571394289","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57697043153269,"sku":"9780571394296","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571394289.jpg?v=1793083563"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-justine-picardie.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}