The Many Lives of Miss K: Toto Koopman—Model, Muse, Spy
“You just can’t make up this stuff! Staggering!”
Rarely will a reader be as surprised and as thrilled when reading a biography that is steeped in the worlds of fashion, wartime, café society, espionage, seduction, sexual freedom, fine art, and the rich and famous.
Here is a sampling of the names that appear as part of the amazingly spectacular life of Toto Koopman: Marcel Rochas, Beaton, Steichen, Chanel, Vionnet, Horst, Francis Bacon, Schiaparelli, the Churchills (father and son), Tallulah Bankhead, Alexander Korda, Giacometti, Guggenheim and Arp, to name a few. The cast of characters is endless and always fascinating.
This is The Many Lives of Miss K: Toto Koopman Model, Muse, Spy. This is one of the most wonderful books about a woman who lived her life on her terms in times that called for most to live by society’s rules.
Miss K or Miss Koopman would have been a trailblazer and independent thinker no matter what time frame she inhabited, but her life was one that was lived to its fullest as her experiences scaled the heights and depths of humanity. She most definitely defied the odds and surely was no amateur when it came to making the best of what life offered.
How this woman escaped the attention of most who are knowledgeable about fashion and all facets of wartime Europe is really astounding as she certainly deserves a place in the telling of that era.
This is a book for historians of all kinds, the fashion cognoscenti, the socially aware, the independent thinkers, and anyone who still believes that originals such as Toto Koopman walked this earth.
Recommend it? How about urge all to have an amazing experience and read about this woman who conquered convention and was a player in an unbelievably full life. You just can’t make up this stuff! Staggering!
One last thing is to keep in mind that Miss K lived until 1990, and the bulk of the book is related by friends and companions who lived on after her death. One of the best biographies that ever graced my eyes!