Women of Singular Beauty

Photographer Cathleen Naundorf gained exclusive access to Chanel's physical archives to handpick gowns and photograph them against theatrical backdrops of her own design. The result: a unique book of ethereal, cinematic photographs that capture the exquisiteness of their haute couture ensembles-creations that entail thousands of hours of handwork, crafting, embellishing, finishing. This is a must-have book for any fashion lover and devotees of the haute couture world For over two decades, Naundorf has used her expert photographic skills to pay homage to the haute couture aesthetic. Her seven-year series Un Rêve de Mode, using gowns pulled from haute couture archives of the leading European houses of fashion including Chanel, Dior, Gaultier, Valentino, and Lacroix, was hailed as one of the first great works of fashion photography in the twenty-first century. For this book, she turns her elaborate and cinematic productions to present world of Chanel. Granted exclusive access to the Chanel archives, Naundorf's images capture the magic and exquisiteness of their haute couture creations-works that require thousands of hours of detailed handwork, embellishing, and finishing.