Books at Bowers Online: The Queen of Paris

Books at Bowers: Touring Through the Pages is a Bowers Docent Guild sponsored book club for Bowers Museum members. The August selection is The Queen of Paris by award-winning author Pamela Binnings Ewen. An optional multi-gallery tour follows the discussion that will highlight varied cultural and historical clothing and adornment worn by people throughout the world.

In preparation for the upcoming Guo Pei exhibit this fall, the August book selection focuses on the life of another female fashion designer, the legendary Coco Chanel. Chanel is recognized for her sophisticated, signature style and Ewen explores her complex character through events that shaped her life during the Nazi occupation of Paris in WWII. With facts recently discovered in wartime files, The Queen of Paris recounts Chanel’s early life, her fight to save the company she built, and her collaboration as a Nazi spy. According to Hilary Daninhirsch of The Historical Novel Society, “the book is exceedingly well researched, bringing German-occupied Paris to life. Despite Chanel’s alliances with Nazis during World War II, the reader is left with a deeper understanding of her motivations, her power, and her allure.”