The Fashion Orphans

"Two estranged sisters find that forgiveness never goes out of style when they inherit their mother's vintage jackets, purses... and pearls of wisdom. Half-sisters Gabrielle Winslow and Lulu Quattro have only two things in comon: mounds of debt and coils of unresolved enmity toward, their controlling and imperious recently deceased mother. Gabrielle (55), firstborn, was raised in relative luxury on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Recently, her life as a Broadway costume designer married to a heralded producer has exploded in divorce. Lulu (48), who spent half her childhood with her working-class Brooklyn grandparents, is a grieving widow. With her sons grown, her life feels reduced to working at her late husband's family's Ditmas Park bakery. The sisters arrive for the reading of their mother's will and instead of a sizable inheritance discover all they have been left is their mother's secret closet jammed with high-end current and vintage designer clothes and accessories--most from Chanel. Contemplating their mother's self-indulgence, the sisters can't help but wonder if Lauren Weisberger had it wrong: because it seems, in fact, that the devil wore Chanel. But as they explore the collection, meet and fall in love with her warm, wonderful friends, and magically find inspiring messages tucked away in her treasures--it seems their mother is advising Lulu and Gabrielle from the beyond--helping them rediscover themselves and restore their relationship with each other." -- Page [4] of cover