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Justine Picardie has spent the last decade puzzling over the truth about Coco Chanel, attempting to peel away the accretions of romance and lies. In her full-scale biography we finally discover the history of the incredible woman who created the way we look now.

Coco Chanel was an extraordinary inventor – she conjured up the little black dress, bobbed hair, trousers for women, contemporary chic, best-selling perfumes, and the most successful fashion brand of all time – but she also invented herself, fashioning the myth of her own life with the same dexterity as her couture. While Chanel was supreme innovator and vendor of all things elegant and beautiful, what lies beneath her own glossy myth is darker.

Justine Picardie was features director of British Vogue and is now fashion columnist for Stella.  She is the author of four books, including her acclaimed memoir If the Spirit Moves You.