Just Goods

Micheline Sandrel: What do you think of this cult of youth? It feels like we’ve just discovered youth. 

Coco Chanel: Eighteen-year-old people know that, we need their opinion because only these people talk about that. It’s very centered on the fashion microcosm, on the moneyed microcosm where we talk of nothing else. There are two topics of conversation, money, women, two topics, money… Nothing serious, futility all day long, no matter what you do. Stupidity in fact, I find it very stupid.. Don’t you think television dumbs people down too? I doubt you’ll say so but I think it dumbs down people, even me, all these programmes, even if they’re not too good, I can’t do without them anymore. If I’m alone, it’s always on.

Micheline Sandrel: From time to time, it allows us to reach the Moon…

Coco Chanel: I didn’t actually, it was an evening I was tired and I’m quite glad I didn’t get up, I heard so much about it the next day, I heard about nothing but that all day long. Do you really want to know what happens up there? You’ll never know. It will generate a lot of literature, it will be good for some people, newspapers sold really well for 48 hours but why does it matter to us, we know full well we won’t go to the Moon. And why would we go? Why do we want to be more than human? No one has gone before, why would the French go? Or the Russians, or anyone else? I’m really not interested in it. It’s to entertain the masses; you don’t see the rottenness behind it all. It’s all about money, only money. We’re in a time of scientists speaking to ignoramus. So you listen to them as you listen to catechism, not believing a word of it. I don’t believe it. Do you believe it? Do you believe we’re going to build little huts up there and that there will be regular planes three times a week? It’s all becoming absurd you see. It’s against religion, it’s against everything, when there will be no more religion you won’t be able to keep people in check anymore, voici le temps des assassins [“here comes the time of assassins”, a line from Arthur Rimbaud’s poem Matinée d’Ivresse in Illuminations as well as a 1956 movie by Julien Duvivier with Jean Gabin], a great poet said so and we’re getting close to it. What are our foundations? There’s no moral, no modesty, nothing, there’s only money to talk about, and eat good and bad food. And dream we’ll go to the Moon. What for?