50 years on and we’re still talking about Coco Chanel

From her birth in a poorhouse to her death in the Ritz, Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel lived a life that was as dramatic and eventful as the most fantastical novel. Born an illegitimate child to poor parents who worked as itinerant peddlers, she was placed in an orphanage aged 12 on the death of her mother but rose to become the veritable “Queen of Haute Couture” by her thirties. Her name evokes fashion, glamour, emancipation...