Chanel

Coco Chanel's Madonna-like self-invention, Trump-like self-promotion, and Yoda-like pronouncements, together with her intense and convoluted love life (famously, when she launched her career as a couturier she was a kept woman; notoriously, she was a "horizontal" collaborator during the Second World War), have meant that writers have scrutinized her persona and biography more intently than the clothes she created and the look she defined. This swank book, however, published in conjunction with the current Chanel exhibition at the Met, focuses on the continuities and evolution of the style of the house of Chanel from its inception, before the First World War, to its current permutation under the direction of Karl Lagerfeld (his impenetrable Teutonic blather, which as far as I can tell insults the founder of the house he presides over, is -- thank goodness -- confined to two pages). Fashion writing tends toward the gaseous, but Koda's introduction and the text of the exhibition catalogue he wrote with Bolton nicely explain Chanel's innovations, clearly define the essential qualities of her designs, and concretely convey the workings of cut and construction. The photographs—enhanced by Lagerfeld to, I must admit, haunting effect -- of the variations on the "little black dress" (all of which marry traditional, elegant materials to precise tailoring, creating the impression of "little more than a breeze," as Harper's Bazaar put it in 1923) and of the sumptuously astringent, squarish suits (with their exquisite but functional details and their "soft tailoring" and easily draped fabrics that allow them to drift over rather than cling to the body) testify to a living tradition that has tamed Lagerfeld even in his efforts to subvert it. After all, to quote Coco, "Fashion fades. Only style remains the same."

• Read more about this book

Atlantic Monthly places you at the leading edge of contemporary issues — plus the very best in fiction, poetry, travel, food and humor. Subscribe today and get 8 issues of the magazine delivered to you for only $19.95 — that's a savings of over $19 off the newsstand price.

To order at this special Powell's price click here.