Most Popular Books by Justine Picardie

The fascinating story of a tumultuous half-century of British history as seen through royal fashion and image-making, taking the reader behind the glamour and mystique of the Crown. Fashioning the Crown tells the story of a tumultuous half-century of British history through the lens of royal fashion and image-making. Informed by Justine Picardie''s entirely original research in the Royal Archives, as well her own interactions with Elizabeth II and her family, it will reveal how, from the outbreak of the First World War to 1960, the soft power of clothing played a crucial role in helping the Royal Family, and the nation, to navigate seismic changes and challenges. Justine will take us behind the glamor and mystique of the Crown, introducing us afresh to three generations of royals, including the glamorous Queen Mary; the Chanel-wearing young flapper who would become the Queen Mother; and the little Princess Lillibet, already setting fashion trends at the age of three. Justine will reveal the crucial importance of image-making in an era of abdications and assassinations, and amidst the rise of revolutions and fascism. She will also uncover the fascinating, little-known lives of the couturiers behind the clothes. Figures like Hardy Amies, Edward Molyneux and Norman Hartnell had secrets that they kept in the shadows—from their sexuality, to their work in espionage—even as they dressed some of the most recognizable figures in the world. Fashioning the Crown will present a secretive institution in a captivating new light.

"Remarkable" —Hamish Bowles, Vogue The overdue restoration of Catherine Dior''s extraordinary life, from her brother''s muse to Holocaust survivor When the French designer Christian Dior presented his first collection in Paris in 1947, he changed fashion forever. Dior''s "New Look" created a striking, romantic vision of femininity, luxury, and grace, making him—and his last name—famous overnight. One woman informed Dior''s vision more than any other: his sister, Catherine, a Resistance fighter, concentration camp survivor, and cultivator of rose gardens who inspired Dior''s most beloved fragrance, Miss Dior. Yet the story of Catherine''s remarkable life—so different from her famous brother''s—has never been told, until now. Drawing on the Dior archives and extensive research, Justine Picardie''s Miss Dior is the long-overdue restoration of Catherine Dior''s life. The siblings'' stories are profoundly intertwined: in Occupied France, as Christian honed his couture skills, Catherine dedicated herself to the Resistance, ultimately being captured by the Gestapo and sent to Ravensbruck, the only Nazi camp solely for women. Seeking to trace Catherine''s story as well as her influence on her brother, Picardie traveled to the significant places of Catherine''s life, including Les Rhumbs, the Dior family villa with its magnificent gardens; the House of Dior in Paris; and La Colle Noire, Christian''s chateâu that he bequeathed to his sister. Inventive and captivating, and shaped by Picardie''s own journey, Miss Dior examines the legacy of Christian Dior, the secrets of postwar France, and the unbreakable bond between two remarkable siblings. Most important, it shines overdue recognition on a previously overlooked life, one that epitomized courage and also embodied the astonishing capacity of the human spirit to remain undimmed, even in the darkest circumstances. Includes Black-and-White Illustrations

Sleek. Chic. Notoriously guarded. Welcome to the secret world of Gabrielle Chanel. The story of Chanel begins with an abandoned child, as lost as a girl in a dark fairy tale. Unveiling remarkable new details about Gabrielle Chanel’s early years in a convent orphanage and her flight into unconventional adulthood, Justine Picardie explores what lies beneath the glossy surface of a mythic fashion icon. Throwing new light on her passionate and turbulent relationships, this beautifully constructed portrait gives a fresh and penetrating look at how Coco Chanel made herself into her own most powerful creation. An authoritative account, based on personal observations and interviews with Chanel’s last surviving friends, employees and relatives, it also unravels her coded language and symbols, and traces the influence of her formative years on her legendary style. Feared and revered by the rest of the fashion industry, Coco Chanel died in 1971 at the age of eighty-seven, but her legacy lives on. Drawing on unprecedented research, Justine Picardie brings her fascinating, enigmatic subject out of hiding and uncovers the consequences of what Chanel covered up, unpicking the seams between truth and myth in a story that reveals the true heart of fashion.

Truth or Dare is an anthology of memoirs from eleven internationally recognized authors who have uncovered what is closest to their hearts: from childhood secrets and tales of first love to the story of a father''s suicide. With pieces by Andrea Ashworth, Rachel Cusk, Sophie Dahl, Sabine Durrant, William Fiennes, Esther Freud, Zoë Heller, Nick Hornby, Julie Myerson, Jon Ronson and Alice Sebold, this volume contains all the emotional range and quirky individuality for which these writers are acclaimed.

"An engrossing and absorbing read...superbly evoked. [Picardie] has lived, breathed, eaten and drunk her heroine, absorbed her, analyzed her, understood her, then managed to invest her portrait with an authenticity that is breathtaking. "-Los Angeles Times

A search for the afterlife in the age of reason chronicles a year in the life of Justine Picardie following the death of her sister, her soulmate, from breast cancer.

A glorious meditation on why clothes matter

Kate Linden is a 35 year old single mother, who dreams of a rosy future with a dream man - one who will love both her and her son Sam. But while she''s waiting for the arrival of that unknown saviour, she finds herself entangled with her handsome, domineering cousin Julian, the son of her dead mother''s twin sister. As she returns to Julian''s childhood home in Norfolk for a family weekend, Kate is drawn back into the mysteries that haunt her. What was the truth of the relationship between her mother and Julian''s father? Who was responsible for her mother''s death in a car crash? How will the patterns of that dark past repeat themselves, or can she escape them? Justine Picardie writes with a clear, beautiful voice about family intrigues and intricacies. Wish I May is a story about the shadows cast by the past, but also of a sustaining hope for the future, and the magical transformations of love.

Witty, playful, and effortlessly chic, Inge Morath: On Style reveals the vital forms of fashion and self-expression that blossomed into existence in England, France, and the United States in the postwar decades. The book follows the photojournalist Inge Morath (1923–2002) through intimate sessions with Ingrid Bergman and Audrey Hepburn; scenes of window-shopping on Fifth Avenue; American girls discovering Paris; the frenetic splendor of society balls; and working women—from actresses to seamstresses to writers—everywhere taking their place in the world. The photographs in On Style focus on an extraordinary period of Morath’s creativity, from the early 1950s to mid- 1960s, with a coda of work from later years. Here are the fundamental humanism, joy, and unerring eye for life’s brilliant theatricality that characterized her work and made her one of the most celebrated photographers of her time.

When Ruth Picardie died from complications following the misdiagnosis of breast cancer in September 1997, leaving a young husband and two-year-old twins, 1000s mourned who''d never met her. Ruth''s column in The Observer recorded the progress of her illness and her feelings about living with terminal cancer. This text brings together these pieces, Ruth''s e-mail correspondance with friends, selected letters from readers, and accounts of Ruth''s last days by her sister, Justine, and husband Matt.

From Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin to Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, from the Drifters and Bobby Darin to Sonny and Cher, Steve Winwood, and Phil Collins, the book bristles with anecdotes about the performers that Ahmet Ertegun, the founder of Atlantic Records, brought to greatness. Photographs.