MISIA SERT and COCO CHANEL : A SOMETIMES STUNNING, ENDURING and INTIMATE FRIENDSHIP UNTIL DEATH

One of the most fascinating things I gleaned from the book on Misia Sert by Gold and Fizdale is that Misia Sert and CoCo Chanel had a long and enduring, though sometimes competitive, friendship that lasted while both were alive - 30 years of friendship.

The two women met in Paris in 1916 and CoCo was the younger, by about a decade, but already a force as a fashion designer. Misia took the younger woman, who had a bit of scandal attached to her, under wing and introduced her to high society and high society began to socialize with Chanel and of course this meant good business. As Misia was a patron of the arts, and liked to be thought of as a person who discovered talent, including Chanel, Chanel was also interested in being a patron of the arts. Together they cared for Serge Diaghilev who lived in a house that Chanel owned and was provided for by Chanel to the end of his life.  But friends with Misia first, it was she who was by his bedside when he died and she who provided his funeral in Venice, Italy.

The two women came to each other's rescue in times of crisis.

When Misia and Sert were thoroughly divorced, she was not longer herself, no matter how much love, understanding, rationalizing, or projecting positivity she tried.  Most likely she suffered depression and was self treating with morphine. She'd been lead to believe by both Sert and his much younger new wife, Roussy" ( Roussadana Mdivani) that they both loved her. Some members of their set thought for a while that they would go on as three. The Mdivani family, who were Georgian Princes and Princesses in need of money, ambitiously marrying to recapture lost fortune, wanted Misia out of their lives.The newly married couple began to find her the equivalent of a meddlesome mother-in-law and were trying to discard her. (While I read of this, I couldn't help but feel that Jose Maria Sert, Misia's long term artist husband, had to know she would be devastated and that the couple lied to her and lead her on partly in hopes that she would get used to the idea.)

Chanel was there. She offered advice. She was protective. And when it seemed Misia was having the equivalent of a nervous breakdown Chanel kept Sert and Roussy from seeing her.

When Chanel was hired by Samuel Goldwyn to design costumes for a Hollywood Film during the Great Depression, paying her a million dollars to do it, Chanel took Misia with her to Hollywood. Chanel wasn't as impressed with the place or the people as Misia was. They were welcomed by Garbo, Dietrich, Colbert, March, Cukor...

Most stunning is that when Misia died on October 15, 1950, Roussy dead, Sert dead, it was CoCo there at her death.  Chanel personally moved her body to Sert's bed and dressed her friend's body, doing Misia's hair, makeup, and jewelry.  When callers came to see Misia, they found her more beautiful than ever and laying on a bank of white flowers and one pale pink rose from Chanel on her breast. Misia's funeral was in a Polish church in Paris and she was buried in a small country cemetery.  For some time pink roses arrived anonymously to the grave though Chanel was not necessarily the sender.  Learning this gave me a new appreciation for the love capable of by CoCo Chanel.

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