Fantabulous design: + Coco before Chanel

"Fashion fades, only style remains the same"
This famous phrase is from Coco Chanel, the French designer who popularised the little black dress, the trouser suit and bobbed haircuts. Chanel's unrivalled sense of style has persisted triumphantly into this millennium.

Now, her private life is the subject of a film directed by Anne Fontaine, with Audrey Tautou starring as the designer in her early years. It’s being shot in Paris and Normandy and is scheduled for a mid-2009 release in France, with international screenings to follow later in the year.

Catherine Leterrier is designing the costumes under the watchful eye of Karl Lagerfeld, emphasising Chanel’s unique fashion sense.
"She was poor, but she had her own style," says Catherine Leterrier.

Those looking for extravagant costumes won’t be disappointed, however, as the film culminates in a runway show of classic Chanel designs.

I’m looking forward to seeing high fashion back on the big screen as in The Devil wears Prada and Sex and the City.

Access the private world of Mademoiselle Chanel’s Paris apartment and see her primary inspirations here