Coco Chanel. A woman of our time by Annarita Briganti
The new book by Annarita Briganti gives new life to Mademoiselle Coco, protagonist of a room by Andrea Concas on ClubHouse and a reading in the name of Art really unpublished and all to be discovered…
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was a creative and avant-garde woman, able to change – through her creations and her stubbornness – the concept of femininity and to be an inspiration for future generations.
Coco’s life – motherless and abandoned by her father – was nourished by the thirst for knowledge, for culture, for living her time in the amazing golden Paris of the 20th century, for revenge against the adversities of her life, always strongly and inevitably influenced by the artistic scene with which she shared the revolutionary spirit of the artists of the time.
Chanel is narrated, with an original and sincere vision, by Annarita Briganti – cultural journalist of Repubblica and writer – in her latest book Coco Chanel, una donna del nostro tempo published by Cairo Editore.
A story to be rediscovered that of the great Coco, which, thanks to the whirling and engaging essay by Briganti, takes us back in time for a story that has all the flavor of contemporaneity.
Through his friendships with artists and exposure to the cultural movements of the time, art, literature, philosophy, theater, music, and film became part of his daily life and inspiration for his creations.
In 1929 Gabrielle Chanel met Salvador Dali with whom she established a relationship of affection and mutual artistic influences: Dali, in fact, asked her to collaborate on the decorations for “Bacchanal” and then gave Mademoiselle a painting, a golden ear of corn on a black background, which Coco will always love.
Freedom, curiosity, challenge of codes, construction and deconstruction: Coco applies these concepts to her garments, as well as to her life.
Yesterday for the usual appointment of Andrea Concas on ClubHouse for the Art&Culture schedule of ClubItalia the writer Annarita Briganti, together with many participants answered questions, receiving a tribute to the writing by Roberto Concas, Art Historian and Semiologist, of which we report the transcript, almost faithful to the intervention:
ROBERTO CONCAS: Annarita will forgive me, but I don’t want to celebrate Coco Chanel, or say anything about the book, but just say: buy the book, you won’t regret it.
I’d like to celebrate you, Annarita, as a writer instead!!!
I’m doing this as someone who just read your book, riding 300 km while sitting, opposite the direction of travel, behind the seat of a motorcycle, an 883!
I feel like a “Bachelor!”
I read your book, and I have to make a note to you immediately!!!
Be patient, but it won’t be all glory!!!
(Murmuring)
And yes, it’s an editorial note, because between chapters in the book, you left a single blank page!!!
One and a half at the most!!!
Too little to catch my breath!
Really too little, you have to understand that in between chapters, you also have to “breathe”!!!
Meanwhile, I want to say that your essay, should be read in one go anyway, and only then, at a later time, should it be understood, interpreted, pondered and even studied!
Then if I’m allowed to?
I’d like to comment on your book in a sort of binary code, not really with the sequence of 01-01,
But, in a parallel between how you Write and Art!
For this!
I’d like to say that your book is a bit “Dadaist”, but that’s not enough, even though in the first chapter “alone”, you use the demonstrative pronoun “She”, “She who” 12 times, certainly to emphasize the strong role of “She” Coco Chanel, but also to break, immediately and forcefully, a condition of the story that could seem linear!!!
If you think this can also be a first question?
ANNARITA BRIGANTI: No, no, go ahead. I really like the critique!!!
ROBERTO CONCAS: But your writing is also “Cubist”, for how you made use of the fourth dimension “space-time” by talking about yourself, suddenly, in the first person, and with another perspective!
Amazing how you do it so well!!!
I could tell you again that your essay is certainly “Impressionist” in the way you profile the many different characters mentioned, from Gabrielle Chanel’s men, to Winston Churchill and Marilyn!
I could tell you that your writing is “Surrealist” because, at times, and always suddenly, we find ourselves in a space that can only be defined: “Surreal”!
I could tell you again that you follow the “dark light of Realism”, when you talk about the Second World War and about Her, Coco Chanel, entangled for “maternal” love, as you say, in a bad story!
I could tell you that your writing is “naturally Futurist”, because you pass, without solution of continuity, from a train, to an airplane up to the attentions of a “mechanic”, of “She” who has been a great one!
Finally, I could tell you again, moving to the Big Apple, that “A Star Is Born,” yes of writing; and it’s you Annarita!!!!
Bravo!
Congratulations!!!
Can I get straight back on the bike?
ANNARITA BRIGANTI: NO!!! Stay like that!!!
ROBERTO CONCAS: Thank you!
Photo Credits: P.Horst Getty Images
