THE TELEGRAPH: Coco's time-locked Paris apartment provides Celia Walden with a rare glimpse of the treasures that tell of a life of love and loss
Mademoiselle Chanel is not at home but I am sure that her ghost, severe in a black suit with an angry slash of red lipstick, is present amid a haze of cigarette smoke and her signature No5 scent.
Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel's private apartment, at 31 rue Cambon, Paris, is a source of wonder that has been preserved exactly as the designer left it when she died in 1971. It is closed to the public but, after months of supplication, the fashion house granted me a rare visit.
The building, bought by Chanel in 1920, still houses the ground-floor shop, the haute couture workrooms in the attic (where 100 seamstresses still work entirely by hand), and what is now Karl Lagerfeld's study. Among the labyrinth of rooms, half-way up the Art Deco stairs that run like a spine through the 18th century building, is the apartment, which Coco called her "nest".
It was in these three small rooms that Coco transformed women's wardrobes. Here, she dreamed up "the new uniform of modern women", as French Vogue christened it (she dispensed with restrictive corsets and fabrics, favouring more relaxed and practical designs), and numerous classics that still enchant today - the little black dresses, two-tone pumps, bouclé suits and quilted shoulder bags.
After Coco died in her sleep at the age of 87, the brand - and rue Cambon - languished until 1983, when Lagerfeld was hired by the Wertheimers (who own Chanel) to rejuvenate it. On the day of my visit, Lagerfeld is tearing around Paris preparing for this week's ready-to-wear shows. But inside Coco's apartment there is a mausoleum-like tranquillity. I am not surprised to hear that Lagerfeld often drops in to seek inspiration. A whiff of Chanel No31 >>>
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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