Coco & Cutrone

This weekend I watched “Coco Avant Chanel” and also finished reading “If You Have to Cry, Go Outside” by Kelly Cutrone. The film is about the legendary designer Coco Chanel, a woman who was ahead of her time to say the least. The book is by NYC publicist Kelly Cutrone, who I imagine might have represented Mme. Chanel were they contemporaries. An interesting theme runs throughout Chanel’s life and Cutrone’s book: the pressure for women to live the “Disney fairytale,” to marry and settle down and live “happily ever after” and the ultimate reality that this fairytale does not exist. Both women choose instead to let their ambition rule, disregard societal pressures and ultimately carve out their own personal version of bliss. Which is not to say they don’t listen to their hearts, or experience the fulfillment of love and romance. In fact, I think, perhaps more so than most who choose a more traditional route. For those of you who have yet to experience one or the other, get on it.