Salute to women of style at Elgin Donor Club luncheon
Submitted by Elgin Donor Club
Elgin Donor Club will hold its annual Book Review on Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Elgin Country Club. Doors will open at 11 a.m., lunch will be served at noon. A book dramatization by Barbara Rinella will follow. Because of limited seating, no tickets will be sold at the door.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Coco Chanel’s first shop in Deauville, France, which opened in May 1913, Rinella has created a special tribute to this quintessential woman of style. This year is also the 100th anniversary of the founding of Donor Club.
Parts of Rinella’s dramatization will be taken from “The Power of Style by Annette Tapert and Diane Edkins, where they profile 14 women of style who “defined the art of living well.” The authors save their tribute to Coco Chanel for the very last, because “of all the great 20th-century women of style, she was the greatest.”
Other elements of this dramatization will come from Lisa Chaney’s 2011 biography, “Coco Chanel, An Intimate Life.”
Rinella will become the little French girl, Gabrielle Jeanne Chanel, who spent her early years in an orphanage, gained her nickname, “Coco,” from singing cafe concerts, and evolved to found an empire of style.
Who was the great love of her life? What connection did she make with Winston Churchill? What criticisms came to her during World War II? Why did she turn to her lucky number 5, and how did it help her through a difficult time?
There will be homemade cookies, breads, candy and gently used books for sale. All proceeds from this event will be donated to local charities to benefit area residents.
Again this year they will have the popular raffle baskets.
Come to meet Coco, and feel free to wear that fabulous treasure she invented … the little black dress.