Gabrielle Chanel told through literature

She's one of the stars of the summer, and she's playing for more. Celebrated by an exhibition at the Villa Paloma that traces her rise to fame in the 1920s—her best years—Gabrielle Chanel will be the focus of a conference, presented by the NMNM, on September 16 at 7 p.m. at the Princess Grace Theater.

On stage, Laurence Delamare will evoke the personality of the emblematic Coco, creator of the brand. Punctuating her story with a selection of excerpts from works by Jean Cocteau, Colette, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, three literary figures whose creations also left their mark on the 1920s, are at the heart of the exhibition at the NMNM, extended until October 5. In particular, in the rooms of the Villa Paloma, you can discover around thirty Chanel models from the 1920s, taken from the fashion house's archives, which tell the story of the designer's avant-gardism and her desire to offer something different to women. Documents also recall her connection with Monaco and the installation of one of her very first boutiques in 1913 at the Hôtel Hermitage.

A specialist in the house of Chanel and its codes

Director of the 7L bookstore and of Literature Relations at Chanel Fashion, Laurence Delamare, who will present the conference on September 16, was in charge of the fashion press for the house of Chanel between 2004 and 2022, working alongside Karl Lagerfeld and Virginie Viard.

In 2022, she took over the management of 7L, a bookstore founded by Lagerfeld in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, where he also set up his photo studio. The establishment was acquired by Chanel after the designer's death and has been maintained as a bookstore with a program of cultural creations at the heart of the studio.

Laurence Delamare has also been heading up Literature Relations at Chanel Fashion for the past few weeks. A position in which she expresses her passion for the history of Chanel and its codes, and maintains her role of transmission within the luxury group.

* – "Gabrielle Chanel through Literature," a lecture at the Princess Grace Theater on September 16 at 7 p.m. Free admission, subject to availability. Register by email at [email protected]