TIME WARP: Hear Coco Chanel Speak In Her First TV Interview!

by Julia Rubin | 4:08 pm, January 16th, 2011

We (well, I) don’t speak a word of French, but this 1959 Coco Chanel interview (what is supposedly her first on television) is still totally and utterly fascinating.

According to the YouTube blurb (thanks Google Translate!), the interview takes place in Chanel’s office. She’s clad in her signature jacket and hat, brooches attached to both pieces. Huge pearls adorn her ears as she gesticulates — cigarette in hand, of course — and rarely smiles. In fact, she kind of scares us! Or at least intimidates us. Maybe it’s because she’s standing up the whole time. Or maybe it’s because she’s COCO CHANEL.

And what does she think of the collection in the video, as modeled by Marie-Hélène Arnaud? ”It is already outdated. It’s been a week.”