Book Reviews: Along Came Coco, A Story about Coco Chanel

A spirited waif with dreams of flounces and fame rising through haute couture’s echelons, one daring crop pantalon at a time, Coco Chanel’s rags-to-riches journey is the stuff of bedtime stories. Add to this a gaggle of crotchety nuns and a parade of beribboned boaters and drop-waist ball gowns and your mini-mes will be begging for an encore. We’ve taken to calling it the ‘Eva Byrne Effect’.

A potted biography of the maverick couturière, chock-full of Byrne’s signature ink illustrations and delicate watercolours, Along Came Coco is as edifying as it is, well, utterly darling.

Image © Along Came Coco: A Story about Coco Chanel by Eva Byrne

Impressively detailed for a children’s picture book, Byrne manages to pack in the rule breaker’s watershed moments and most daring designs – from her iconic little black dress and women’s trousers to the gas-lamp explosion that singed her waist-length hair and inspired her bobbed cut – offering up a cracking and empowering modern fairy tale for little girls. The perfect antidote to shrinking princesses and damsels in distress!

Along Came Coco: A Story about Coco Chanel, by Eva Byrne, list price £11.99 / $16.99, published by Abrams Books for Young Readers

Purchase the book on Amazon here

From France Today magazine. For more France Today book reviews, click here

From France Today magazine