The Collection

Just as she did in her critically acclaimed novel I am Madame  X, Gioia Diliberto brings a rich historical moment to life through her  vivid and compelling storytelling. Her penetrating research and stylish  writing are gracefully woven together in this poignant story filled with  larger-than-life characters embroiled in scandalous tales, passionate  love affairs, and extraordinary careers. The Collection is an exuberantly  entertaining read.

Isabelle Varlet, charming and naive, comes from a long line of  seamstresses in a small town in France. A series of unfortunate events  and her prodigious sartorial talent carry her to Paris, which in the  wake of World War I is electric with new life. When Isabelle takes a job  in the atelier of Coco Chanel, the rising star of haute couture, she  finds herself in the heart of a glamorous and ruthless world filled with  arrogant designers, handsome men, beautiful women, and fashion thieves  who prowl Paris hoping to steal designs before they hit the runway.

In Chanel’s workshop, Isabelle thrives on the time-honored  techniques of couture—the painstaking hand stitches,the perfect fall of  fabric—and the sleek, pared-down lines of “Mademoiselle’s” revolutionary  style. As Isabelle brings an exquisite dress to life for the fall  collection—from its embryonic origins in humble muslin to its finished  form in the finest silk—she navigates the tempestuous moods of Chanel,  the cutthroat antics of her fellow workers, and her own search for love.

Just as she did in her critically acclaimed novel I am Madame  X, Gioia Diliberto brings a rich historical moment to life through her  vivid and compelling storytelling. Her penetrating research and stylish  writing are gracefully woven together in this poignant story filled with  larger-than-life characters embroiled in scandalous tales, passionate  love affairs, and extraordinary careers. The Collection is an exubrantly  entertaining read.