nTracing the origins and influences of the iconic French fashion house in the 1920s, from the Riviera to Parisn nThe beginnings of Chanels fashion brand lie in the French seaside resorts. In 1913, Coco--then still Gabrielle--Chanel opened her first boutique in Deauville, an upscale seaside resort just a few hours west of Paris. Soon after, she opened shops in Biarritz, Monte Carlo and Cannes. It was in these ritzy beach destinations that her simple, sporty designs first flourished. Here they were met with a cosmopolitan clientele who carried her fashion back to the capital city of Paris. In the 1920s, the Chanel brand thus experienced its first heyday, driven by the artistic and social upheaval of those years, now known as the Roaring Twenties. nThis lavishly illustrated catalog chronicles this early era of the iconic French fashion house, documenting in drawings and photographs the extraordinary productivity of the designer herself, who maintained friendships with artists such as Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso and others. It also traces Chanels early influences such as Serge Diaghilevs Ballets Russes, who were performing on the Riviera in the 1920s just as Chanel began to gain a foothold in the region. The book reveals the Slavic influence on Chanels creations, highlighting a network of correspondences with female artists close to Diaghilevs. Finally, it also features images of La Pausa, Gabrielle Chanels dream villa built near Monaco in 1929.n